Getting back to your roots: what exactly is in a census?

9:12am Thursday 8th May 2008

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Want to find out more about your ancestors?

In the second part of our fascinating five-part series, we explore what censuses are and how you can make sense of them

HOW many people once called your house their home?

It is just one question Elaine Baker asked when she began researching the history of her house in Leigh Sinton.

"We bought the house six years ago and the previous owners pointed out that it dates back to the 18th century.

"We'd been here 10 months when we got this big envelope from the solicitors.

"It was full of documents going back to 1894.

"It started then - we looked at the history of the house and the families who had lived here."

Mrs Baker, aged 45, used ancestry websites and electoral roles and discovered that her Rose Bank Cottage was once a busy, bustling post office, and one inhabitant reached her 100th birthday.

"It doesn't matter how old your house is," added Mrs Baker.

"It's even interesting to find out what was there before it was built."

THE HISTORYThe British government introduced the first census in 1801, which was really little more than a head-count by parish vicars.

It came about largely because Britain was fighting with France in the Napoleonic Wars and "we all knew France was a bigger country than ours, but we didn't know whether it had a lot more people than us," explains genealogist Else Churchill, from the Society of Genealogists.

"The government needed to know how many people could conceivably be taken off the land to go into the navy and army."

From 1801 these head-counts continued every 10 years until 1831, but very few of the records survive.

In 1837, when Victoria took over the throne, a Registrar General was appointed to keep tabs on births, deaths and marriages - and it was this man, Thomas Henry Lister, who created the census as we know it today.

WHERE TO FIND THE CENSUS RECORDSThe records for England and Wales themselves have had something of a "chequered career", as they were moved from the House of Lords record office in Parliament to the Public Record Office in Chancery Lane and, finally, the National Records office in Kew.

"Over the years there have been suggestions they should have been destroyed and they have not been looked after very well," says Else.

With the advent of microfilm technology, copies of the census returns became available in county record offices and some libraries - and then came the internet.

A group of local historians teamed up to transcribe the 1881 census and create an index on CD ROM. The index is now freely available at www.familysearch.com The National Archives published the 1901 census for England and Wales online (www.1901censusonline.com) complete with its own index.

It now runs smoothly, but when it went online in 2002 the site crashed due to over-demand.

The response was noted by some business-minded American genealogical companies who now charge on a pay-per-view basis to see original Victorian returns. The commercialisation of the census has helped family historians, says Else.

"If you can't find your ancestor on one site, competition will mean you may find it on another," she adds.

The best sites to use are www.thenationalarchives.gov.uk, www.ancestry.co.uk, www.findmypast.com and www.britishorigins.com.

READING THE RETURNSThe census returns are, as you'd expect from the Victorians, organised in a very logical fashion. Each county is divided into registration districts, sub districts and enumeration districts.

Each district is given a reference number and the pages of each census book are numbered.

You might not always find the people you're looking for - spelling mistakes are frequent.

"Broadly speaking you will find the individual's name, sex, relationship to the head of household, exact age last birthday, parish and county of birth and their occupation," says Else.

The 1841 census was taken in June, but it was difficult to get everyone in the right place because many were away to work on the harvest. So from 1851, the census was brought forward to the spring.

FINDING MISSING PEOPLEWhat happens if you've scoured several indexes and you still can't find your ancestor? Well, there are several reasons why people might not show up where they ought to be on a census.

Back in 1841 most people lived in parishes, but by 1901 the population of Britain had more than doubled and there was a shift from small towns to bigger cities.

"One of the problems you might be having with your ancestors is they're moving to a bigger town and are more anonymous or difficult to find," says Else.

Equally, it may be that your ancestors were not actually at home during the census, but were in hospital, the merchant navy or even the workhouse or lunatic asylum.

USING NEWSPAPER ARCHIVESLocal newspapers are fantastic sources of information, providing you with personal detail about your ancestors' lives and a rich sense of the world in which they lived.

According to Else Churchill, looking for known events or specific dates is a useful first step.

"A wedding report might include a guest list, details of gifts and descriptions of outfits worn or a funeral might include a list of attendees and inquest details.

In addition newspapers will have church announcements, adverts by traders, details of bequests, accounts of local crimes and court proceedings. All things that can add to your pictures of their lives, directly and indirectly."

Newspapers began to be systematically collected and sent to the British Library in 1822. Colindale in London - home of British Library Newspapers - now has more than 52,000 separate newspapers, journals, and periodical titles, occupying some 32 kilometres (or 20 miles) of shelf space.

Luckily, you're not expected to wander up and down the aisles, the online search facility (see www.bl.uk/services/reading/newsrrcatalogue.html), means you can look through the catalogue and place orders in advance of your visit.

Some regional newspapers are still available in their original form but most are now on microfilm or scheduled into a filming programme.

GAZETTEERSGazetteers can help you work out how things have changed geographically.

In the 19th century many parishes changed their boundaries and by identifying the exact district your ancestors lived in you can access local registers and other records.

Good gazetteers for the 19th and early 20th centuries were published by Bartholomew or Lewis and www.genuki.org.uk offers an online search of gazetteers from England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland and the Isle of Man.

DIRECTORIESHistorical trade directories provide help if you've had problems tying to find a person in a census.

While not everyone is listed in a directory, invariably local traders and gentry paid for an entry and the address where they were living is recorded. Dating from the early 19th century, they also include a description of a specific town or village, with further information about the local community including transport, churches, schools and businesses.

Publishers of directories include Kelly's, Baines and Pigot's and county record offices usually have a good collection. Alternatively try www.genuki.org.uk

MAPS AND PLANSThe country and countryside has changed radically over the last 300 years and in many cases the place names used by our ancestors have changed or disappeared.

Parish maps produced by county record offices are particularly helpful in identifying alternate places to search for baptisms, marriages and burials.

Alternatively try Phillimore's Atlas and Index of Parish registers or maps produced by the Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies.

Tithe maps are also available from the county record offices. Providing information about landholdings, these maps can offer an invaluable snapshot of latter-day rural life.

MEMORIAL INSCRIPTIONSThe Victorians in particular spent a lot of time and money remembering their loved ones - so don't be afraid to go looking around church graveyards for hints about your ancestors. War graves are another source of useful information. Go to the Commonwealth war graves website www.cwgc.org and the National Inventory of War Memorials www.ukniwm.org.uk