England Census: Further Information and Description

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England Gotoarrow.png England Census

There is a lot to learn about the census records. Please read the following sites to learn more. To find additional sites, do a search in Google.com for the keywords England Census.

Census returns are arranged in columns. The above mentioned leaflet explains that the 1841 census contains less information than the later ones. Column titles are:

  • Place or street address
  • Name of each person living in the abode on the night of the census
  • Age and sex
  • Relationship to the head of the household
  • Profession, trade or employment
  • Where born

A number of terms are on a census page. Here are a few.

  • RG or HO numbers
  • Hundred (in the 1841 census)
  • Enumeration districts
  • Civil parish
  • Ecclesiastical parish
  • Page and folio numbers

These terms are defined on FamilySearch Research Wiki at wiki.familysearch.org. In the Search box, type the keywords genealogical glossary terms.

Relationships are important when putting a family unit together. The most oft-used relationships in the census were:

  • Head
  • Wife
  • Son
  • Daughter
  • Sister
  • Brother
  • Mother
  • Mother-in- Law
  • Grandson
  • Granddaughter
  • Nephew
  • Niece
  • Stepson
  • Stepdaughter
  • Servant
  • Visitor


Enumerators recorded information in varying ways. Here are some of them.

  • Listing the given name first followed by the surname.
  • Listing the surname first followed by the first name.
  • Abbreviating the last name or place name as “do”. This abbreviation means "the same as the above" last name or place name.
  • Abbreviating the relationship to the head of the household, such as Daur for daughter.
  • Abbreviating the name of county, such as Wilts for Wiltshire.
  • Abbreviating the condition, such as M (married), U or Un (unmarried), W (widow or widower).
  • Abbreviating the names of occupations, such as FWK as frame work knitter.

Some census pages have marks or slashes through information on the page. These were put there by a person who was making a count or summary of the data for statistical purposes. Handwriting is sometimes hard to read. One way to help with this dilemma is to compare unreadable letters or words with other ones on the same page or a page before or after.

It is helpful to understand The National Archives and the General Register Office catalog numbers. These numbers are written on the bottom or side of each census page. They refer to the office that was responsible for collecting the records, and are helpful when searching them. The numbers help if you were looking in a census index and wanted to find the information on a census page.

Here are the numbers for each census year. The letters “HO” stand for Home Office; the letters “RG” refer to the General Register Office.

1841 census: HO 107
1851 census: HO 107
1861 census (RG 9)
1871 census (RG 10)
1881 census (RG 11)
1891 census (RG 12)
1901 census (RG 13)
1911 census (RG 14)

For your information, the 1911 census is the most recent one available to the public.

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