1926 Irish Census Release

The 1926 Census of Ireland will be released online for free by the National Archives of Ireland on April 18, 2026, marking 100 years since it was taken. This release will provide fully searchable, detailed records of over 700,000 households in the Irish Free State, filling a major gap in genealogical records between 1911 and modern times. 

• Access: The records will be free and fully searchable, featuring names, addresses, occupations, and Irish language proficiency.
• Scope: Covers the 26 counties of the Irish Free State; unfortunately, Northern Ireland records from 1926 did not survive.
• Significance: It is the first major census release since 1911, offering a detailed snapshot of Irish society shortly after independence.
• Context: The release is accompanied by a public program including a documentary, exhibitions, and a book examining the 1926 revealing a diverse population.

Website Wednesday - The Early British Census Project

The Early British Census project (EBC) brings the numerous disparate pre-1841 census records into one searchable database. It is designed to help family historians discover their ancestors; offer training for students; and provide data for scholarly research, particularly for local and population studies. The project offers valuable insight into household and occupational structures of early industrial Britain. 

 
There are over 1400 surviving household or individual schedules from the 1801, 1811, 1821, and 1831 censuses. Because the household and individual schedules were never submitted to a central government entity, the original returns remain in dozens of local archives across the UK. These records have never been brought together into one database, most have never been indexed or published, and only occasional returns have been digitized.

EBC brings these various records into one searchable database. When the database is complete, it will likely contain information about approximately 500,000 households.

The first stage of the project is to extract data from, and where possible gather digital images of, the 1801-1831 English censuses. Later stages will capture records from other parts of the British Isles as well as earlier periods.

Student researchers, under faculty supervision, consult the originals, extract parish, household, and individual data, and where possible upload the digital image. The extractions are then verified by a second researcher.

All information was extracted from digital images of original census records. No extractions or transcriptions from other collections or publications were used.

Populations Past

The new website Populations Past allows users to create and view maps of different demographic measures and related socio-economic indicators every 10 years between 1851 and 1911. These include fertility, childhood mortality, marriage, migration status, household compositions, age-structure, occupational status and population density. Brief explanations of each measure are included, indicating how they are calculated and explaining how they relate to other measures. Users can zoom in to a particular area on the map, and compare side by side maps of different times or measures. When large areas are viewed at once the data are displayed in Registration Districts (RDs), but the display changes to Registration Sub-Districts (RSDs) when the users are zoomed in.

The Resources tab on the website contains a handy User Guide, as well as several podcasts of interviews with census experts created in partnership with Year 8 students from South Wales, resources for teachers, an image gallery and a number of links to online National RSD Maps.

The website is hosted by the University of Cambridge and Populations Past and its associated research project, An Atlas of Victorian Fertility Decline, have been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Isaac Newton Trust (Cambridge).

1921 Census of England and Wales

Genealogy website Find My Past has just announced that they will exclusively launch the much anticipated 1921 Census of England and Wales on 6 January 2022.

This census is significant for several reasons.  Firstly, it is the only interwar census.  The 1931 census was destroyed by fire, and the 1941 census cancelled due to the Second World War.  Secondly, it is the most revealing record set up to that time, being the first to recognise divorce and the first to capture people's full employment details.

The census comprises some 18,235,242 images supplied by The National Archives.  Accessing the census will cost £2.50 for every record transcript and £3.50 for every original image.  For subscribers there will be a 10% discount on any 1921 Census purchases.

The 1921 Census of England and Wales was taken in June 1921 and holds information on every household, vessel, institution and overseas residencies that were part of England and Wales in 1921, plus the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. Also included are merchant ships in the waters of England and Wales, all ships of the Royal Navy and army and, for the first time, Royal Air Force units stationed overseas. This includes units on occupation duties following the First World War, or based in territories newly under British administration as a result of the war, such as Mesopotamia (modern Iraq).

A full entry on a standard household schedule will contain:

• Full address of the property
• Names of persons in each household
• Relationship to head of household
• Age (now required as years and completed months, rather than just years as in previous censuses)
• Sex
• “Marriage or Orphanhood”
  - For those aged 15 and over this field recorded if you were single, married, or widowed, and for the first time D was to be recorded for those whose marriage had been dissolved by divorce

  - For those under 15 this recorded if both parents were alive, father dead, mother dead or both dead

  - This field will again show the impact of the First World War with a greater proportion of widows recorded than in 1911, and 730,000 children recorded with “Father dead” versus 260,000 with “Mother dead”
• Place of birth and nationality for those born outside the UK
• Occupation and Employment
  - If in full or part-time education

   

  - Principally for recording those at school or university, but could also include adults taking evening classes

  - For those employed, name and type of employer, otherwise recording “employer”, or “own account”

  - Those out of work are instructed to give their last employer and add “out of work”

  - Place of Work - employer’s address (except for those in private employment such as domestic service
• Number of children or stepchildren under the age of 16
  To be filled in by married men, widowers and widows, a total number followed by a cross in a box for each age that was applicable to a child or stepchild.

Other types of schedule for institutions/prisons, merchant vessels, or the armed forces add some additional questions about function within the institution, and rank or trade rather than occupation for the armed forces. Schedules used in Wales and the Isle of Man include an additional language question, asking if each person spoke Welsh (or Manx), English, or Both, while the armed forces schedule asks additionally if the person can speak Welsh or Gaelic (in addition to English).

In the Census

How accurate are the census records? I'm sure this question has arisen for every genealogist at some point in their research.  We quickly learn that census records cannot be considered the absolute and final authority. 

Why does someone's age change every census by less (or more!) than the 10 years between censuses? Why is a surname being spelled differently on three different censuses? Why does an ancestor have a different first name in the 1861 census (is it even the right person?)?  And why does the census give a different place of birth for great grandma each time?

Consider first what question was actually asked by the census taker. For example with ages - did he ask about how old the person was, or how old they were on their last birthday or.....  Were the ages of all the adults in an area rounded up (or down) to the closest multiple of five (yes, it happened)?

People lied about their ages, or sometimes simply got it wrong. My grandmother always insisted she was born on 30 June 1906.  According to her birth registration, however, she was born on 30 June 1905.

Remember spelling was not exact back in the 1800s and earlier. A census taker wrote what he heard, and whether or not he was a good speller or was familiar with the surname dictated what we see recorded on the census page. You get what I will grumpily refer to as 'some semi-literate clerk's best guess".  Keep in mind that it was not your ancestor who filled in the census themselves.

Different first names? Children were usually given at least two names at birth and an individual might choose to be known by their middle name, or perhaps a nickname. My ancestor Elizabeth Green (nee May) was always known as Betsy - and that is the name recorded in several censuses.

The next question we need to ask ourselves is - who provided the answers on that census? Was it a parent? Mothers may have had a better idea of their children's birth years and ages than the father. Was it an older child (perhaps the parents were not home), a grandparent or even a neighbour giving the information? Tracing a family through several censuses may have seen a different respondent each time.  All these factors will affect the quality of the census information.

As with many other genealogical records, the census records can contain inaccurate information, mistakes and even outright lies

The 1921 Census of England and Wales

Under the 1920 Census Act, the 1921 census for England and Wales cannot be published online until over a hundred years have passed. Family history website Findmypast has been awarded the exclusive contract to publish the records, and despite delays to the project caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the records are due to be released in early 2022. The 1921 census for Scotland is due to be published on ScotlandsPeople in the latter half of 2021.

The first national census was in 1801 when the population of England and Wales was something like eight million people. At the time it was done to see whether the nation had enough fighting men for the Napoleonic Wars and if the people could feed themselves, so the census asked very broad questions about agriculture and trade but not much more. It wasn't until 1841 that the census asked names like a modern census does.

By 1921 there were 38 million people in England and Wales. Because it was the first census after the First World War, the impact of that conflict influenced the questions asked, with children asked whether their mother or their father or both were dead. It was also the first time people were asked whether a marriage had been dissolved by divorce, and they were asked about the workplace of their employer. When the census is released, people will be able to see who their relatives worked with.
The 1921 Census was also the first time the RAF had been included, so it includes RAF staff in overseas stations. While the 1911 census asked about the length of the present marriage, the total number of children born and the number still living, in 1921 it only asked about how many children or stepchildren the family had, and how many were still alive.

The impact of the First World War can also be seen in the ages of the population. About 700,000 men died during the War, completely changing the adult male population. Another impact of the was is in children, with a big reduction in the number of 2, 3 and 4-year-olds compared with the number of 5, 6, 7 and 8-year-olds. The birth rate had dropped dramatically during the war, because men were away. But then what you see in the 1921 census also is that there were a large number of 0 and 1-year-olds, because a whole bunch of babies had been born as men returned from the war.

It is also worth noting that the 1921 census itself was delayed. It was due to take place in late April, but was put back to June because of a coal miners’ strike.

1828 Census of New South Wales

Great news for those researching their early Australian family history.  The New South Wales State Archives have just announced they are in the process of digitising the 1828 Census of New South Wales, which will also be included in the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register.  Below is the statement put out by the Archives.

"We are thrilled that records of the 1828 Census of NSW which we hold as part of the State Archives Collection are to be inscribed on the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register. This is wonderful national and international recognition of the State Archives Collection and our work in preserving and making accessible the State’s archives.

The 1828 Census was the first official census undertaken by NSW after it was found the Governor had no authority to compel free men to come to a muster – the previous means of counting the colony’s population.

The Census covers some 36,500 inhabitants, both convict and free, and captures a social and economic picture of the Colony of NSW in November 1828, 40 years after the Colony’s establishment. It covers all settlements within the jurisdiction of the then colony of NSW including Moreton Bay and Norfolk Island.

It records such detailed information for each person (including children) as name, age, if free or convict, if born in the colony or ship and year of arrival, sentence if arrived as a convict, religion, employment, residence, district, total number of acres, acres cleared, acres cultivated, horses, horned cattle, sheep, and remarks.

The records to be inscribed on the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register include:

• Alphabetical Return, 1828 (NRS 1272)
• Householders’ Returns (NRS 1273)
• District Abstracts (NRS 1274)
• Working Papers (NRS 1275)
• Colonial Secretary’s Special Bundles: 1828 Census (NRS 906)

We are in the process of digitising this material which will be made available on our website in the coming weeks.

We will also be announcing some exciting plans for the 1828 Census that will allow more people than ever before to view the documents – stay tuned!"

Like many others, I'll be keeping an eye on the Archives website and looking forward to delving into the records as they become available.

Week 5 - In the Census - 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

It is time to think about Week 5 of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge, and the prompt is 'In the Census'.  I love census records, and it is a constant disappointment that so few census records in Australia have survived.
For several branches of my family, the English census has been invaluable, but my favourite is the story of the Hines family.  James Hines was born 12th March 1807 in Aldham, Suffolk.  He marries Susannah Woollard (born 1812 in Aldham) on 1st June 1830.  Their children are Susannah (1832), John (1834), Samuel (1836), Albert (1838) and Hannah (1840).  The family appears together in the 1841 census, which shows them living in Quentin Street, with James working as a carpenter.  Eldest daughter Susannah is not home on the night on the census.

Hines family 1841 census

Sadly, James Hines dies shortly after on 20th June 1841, followed by his wife Susannah (nee Woollard) just before the next census on 13th March 1851.  Tracing each of the 5 children through the census records tells quite a tale.
The two eldest children, Susannah and John, are 19 and 17 years old at the time of the 1851 census.  I eventually found them, living with their mother's parents John and Susan Woollard, where they are listed as servants.

Susannah and John Hines, 1851 census

Middle child Samuel Hines, age 15, is living as a lodger in the household of James Prentice, a labourer.  After a bit of research I found that James Prentice married Mary, one of the Woollard sisters, and was Samuel's great uncle.  And the two youngest children, Albert, age 13 and Hannah, age 11?  Eventually I found them together, paupers in the Cosford Union Workhouse.

Despite this rather sad beginning, all five children survive and marry.  John dies in 1866 in Yorkshire, age 32, but the other children all live fairly long lives - Susannah dies in 1917 age 84, Samuel dies in 1910 age 73, Albert dies in 1917 age 79, and Hannah dies in 1912 age 71.  I descend from Susannah, who marries Henry Pike in 1855 - they are my great great grandparents.

2021 British Census Questions

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has published its response to public consultation regarding the 2021 Census of England and Wales.
The report, available at ons.gov.uk/census, comments on a variety of enquiries about the upcoming survey raised by researchers and members of the public with an interest in census data.  The consultation ran from June to August 2015 and received a total of 606 responses from interested groups and individuals.
A number of respondents suggested that the Census should ask residents to provide their place of birth – a question that has not been asked since the 1951 Census.  Unfortunately the question received an overall ‘user requirement’ score of 17 out of 100, and ONS has stated that it will not be included in the upcoming survey, as it demonstrates a “low user need” and raised “concerns around respondent burden and costs relating to collection, response rates and coding”.
The report also states that the 2021 Census will not ask residents to supply their maiden names – another question that had been suggested by family history researchers taking part in the consultation.
2021 Census director Ian Cope commented that while the ONS recognised the genealogical value of census data, there was not enough space to include every single question submitted by the public.

1891 New South Wales Census Records

FamilySearch.org has indexed records from the 1891 New South Wales census. This census lists the head of household, street address, and the number of male and female members of the household. There is also a separate column listing the “Number of Chinese and Aborigines” in the household, and another column for comments from the census takers. The collection can be searched by first name and last name.  You can also browse the 21,315 images that make up the collection.

Number of images per district

 Like many other Australian researchers I have long lamented the lack of complete census records available, and have joined others in urging our government to change its policy of destroying census records after statistical data has been extracted.  It is heartening to see a significant surviving record set now digitised and available - even if it doesn't cover any of my direct ancestors (sigh).

An example page from Albury