RESEARCH Censuses

Censuses

Censuses have been taken every 10 years since 1801 after the Census Act of 1800 paved the way for them to be taken.

The first four 1801/1811/1821/1831 were limited in nature and although the collection books may have contained names, the purpose of the censuses was to get statistical totals, so this information was in general destroyed soon after it was taken, leaving only some summary totals. In less than one in a thousand cases, the enumerator kept their original collection books and where these have been located they have in most cases found their way into the archive of the county concerned, though some may be still be in private hands.

For example Cumberland has Holme Cultram 1821, Isel 1811, Newton Reigny 1821 and Skelton 1821. Westmorland only has this collection data for Beetham 1801 and 1811, and Crosby Ravensworth 1811. Unfortunately although they are known to exist thier current location is unknown. For further information check the Family History website, which has full details. Futher information is available in a book published by the University of Essex and available at Census Schedules.

Censuses have been taking in England and Wales every 10 years starting from 1841 (1941 was not taken due to the war but there is the 1939 register which is actually more comprehensive than the 1941 census would have been. The different censuses contain different amounts of information and some are more valuable than others. They do all give useful information though including names, addresses and ages as well as family relationships at the same address. Because of the 100 year closure rule the census details are not released until 100 years have passed so only the censuses up to 1921 have currently been released.

It is useful to know the dates on which the census was taken as this can help pinpoint the year of birth a little more accurately.

        1841 - Sunday, 6 June

        1851 - Sunday, 30 March

        1861 - Sunday, 7 April

        1871 - Sunday, 2 April

        1881 - Sunday, 3 April

        1901 - Sunday, 31 March

        1911 - Sunday, 2 April

1921 - Sunday, 19 June

Locating and using census returns

The details of the various censuses taken in Cumbria are kept by the relevant records office, they are also available on line from various websites though you normally have to pay for access, the exception being the 1881 census which is available free at Ancestry - 1881 Census. Many county libraries will also allow you to access these records on line free of charge (other than the normal cost of using their computers).

There are also a few Census transcriptions at Freecen

The 1841 census is a bit limited in content and the age of anyone over 15 was rounded down to the nearest multiple of 5, so an 18 year old could be listed as 15, a 39 year old as 35 and so on. The 1851 census is much better with a lot more details and ages should be accurate, always providing the person giving the information knew everyone's age. When details were given those who were illiterate or even in some cases those who were not, could verbally give details for the enumerator to write down, if they were not local then their accents could result in name or place names being incorrectly spelt. There is one other quirk in the 1841 census,as it does not show the exact place of birth, only whether the person was born in the same county or not, in some cases it may also show if a person was born in another country, for example Ireland.

The 1881 census can normally be found free of charge because of the work done by the LDS Church, other Census records will normally only be available from paid websites or genealogical platforms, such as Ancestry, or printed books.

The CFHS for example has the 1851 census in printed booklets for each area for sale in the Shop.

You should also bear in mind that these censuses have been manually transcribed and the on line records do have errors in them, sometimes it can take some careful searching using different spellings to find the person you want. It is also not unusual for people to be missing, the reason for this could be anything from being out of the country, through to errors and perhaps just not wanting to be on the census. So not finding someone in a census does not mean they did not exist. Also be aware that many people were illiterate and the entries were made by the enumerators, who could and often did make mistakes, for example if the person was not a local their accent could affect what the enumerator heard and he would write that down phonetically, that affects names as well as places.

Earlier Censuses

There are other psuedo-censuses, for example Window Tax and Hearth Tax records which go back prior to 1841, but these in general are not complete records and only cover a certain part of the population, or have significant gaps in them due to lost original copies.

 In general because these were taxation returns they do not have so much detail and many people who were not taxable are omitted from these records. Hearth Tax existed from 1663 to 1688 and Window Tax from 1696 to 1851.

However the records that remain are few 

• North Westmorland Window Tax 1777

• South Westmorland Window Tax 1777

• Westmorland, A Constables Census 1787

• Westmorland Hearth Tax 1674

• Westmorland Hearth Tax, some entries from Kendal 1671 and 1664.

This is not a complete list and there may be others