1841 Census

1841 Census of the UK

The 1841 UK census involved three separate national censuses all held on 6 June; the census of England and Wales, the census of Scotland and the census of Ireland. It was the fifth decennial census in England, Wales and Scotland but only the 3rd decennial census in Ireland.

The 1841 census is hugely significant because it is the first national census to record the personal details of the inhabitants of England, Wales and Scotland. The 1841 Ireland census is less ground breaking; personal details had been recorded since the Ireland census of 1821 and, in any event, few Ireland census records survive.

1841 Census Questions

The householder (i.e. the head of the family) was required to complete a householder’s schedule listing the personal details of all those who ‘abode or slept’ overnight on 6 June. Visitors and servants were to be included. The householder’s address was also required although the enumerators, who later copied these details into their enumerator’s schedules, usually recorded the street or road at best.

The Ireland census was much more involved. It asked more questions and gathered information from a wider group of individuals; not only those who stayed overnight on census night, but also those who were absent or those who had died since the previous census:

1841 census questions comparison

Details	Great Britain (overnight)	Ireland (overnight)	Ireland (absent)	Ireland (died)
Name	✓	✓	✓	✓
Relation to head of the family	X	✓	✓	✓
Marital status & year(s) of marriage	X	✓	X	X
Age	✓	✓	✓	✓
Male or Female	✓	✓	✓	✓
Occupation: Profession, trade, employment (GB only: or independent means)	✓	✓	✓	✓
Whether attending school	X	✓	✓	X
Education - whether he/she can 'read', 'read and write' or 'cannot read'	X	✓	X	X
Where born/native of country, county, city	✓	✓	X	X
Where residing (absent family members)	X	X	✓	X
Disease which caused death	X	X	X	✓
Year of death	X	X	X	✓

The ‘age’ question was rounded down to the nearest 5 years for people older than 15 (other than in Ireland). For the ‘occupation’ question, a pre-approved list of abbreviations was published.

The ‘Where Born’ question in the England and Wales census spanned two columns:

• Whether born in the same county: ‘Y’ or ‘N’, or;
• Whether born in Scotland, Ireland, or Foreign Parts (denoted by ‘S’, ‘I’ and ‘F’ respectively. If this second part of the question applied, the first part was left blank.

British subjects born abroad were entered ‘N’ in the first column, whilst all foreigners (non-British) were entered ‘F’ in the second column.

The Scotland census mirrored the England and Wales census, but ‘Whether born in England’ (‘E’) replaced ‘Whether born in Scotland’.

The Ireland census simply asked ‘Native: Of what Country, County, or City?’

1841 census for England & Wales

Background

Prior to the 1841 census, the duties for census collection in England and Wales were shared between Overseers of the Poor and the Clergy. It was a relaxed affair in which the census was taken ‘day after day’ until all answers had been recorded. It was a head count only and if any personal details were recorded, these were almost always destroyed.

Procedure

For the 1841 census of England and Wales, responsibility for the census was transferred to the newly created General Register Office for England and Wales. The country was divided into ‘enumeration districts’; sub-divisions of districts recently created for the civil registration of births, marriages and deaths.

35,000 enumerators were employed to conduct a census of the inhabitants of their enumeration district. The aim was to ensure that the district could be covered ‘by an active man’ – ‘in one day’. This was to address one of the main flaws of the pre-1841 census returns; the drawn out process ‘day after day’^[2] resulted in people being missed our double counted. To this end, each enumeration district was designed to encompass between 25 – 200 inhabited dwellings depending upon density.

Up to a week before ‘census day’ each enumerator dropped off the householder’s schedule to every household in his district. The householder was to complete this in time for collection by the enumerator on 7 June and there were fixed penalties for not complying.

Having collected these schedules, each enumerator copied their contents into ‘enumerator’s schedules’ (aka ‘enumerator’s books’). After this point, regrettably, the householder’s schedules were almost always destroyed. It is therefore the census enumerator’s books that we refer to when researching our ancestors rather than the original householder’s schedules.

The results compiled by the enumerators were then checked by various Registrars and Superintendent-Registrars and forwarded to the General Register Office for England and Wales.

1841 Census for Scotland

The process discussed above was almost identical in Scotland. However, as the General Register for Scotland was not established until 1855, the hierarchy of officials differed somewhat. In Scotland, the enumerators reported to the official schoolmaster who roughly took on the same role as a Registrar in England and Wales. The Sheriff Substitute (of each county) or Provost (of each Burgh) assumed the role of a Superintendent-Registrar in England and Wales. The 1841 census for Scotland ultimately ended up on the desk of the Home Office in London. It was not removed to the General Register Office for Scotland until 1910.

1841 Ireland Census

Unfortunately, almost all the 1841 census records for Ireland were destroyed by fire in 1922. Please visit 1841 Ireland census for more information on surviving Ireland census records.

Census 1841 – Population recorded

Country	Population
England	15,002,250
Wales	911,898
Scotland	2,620,184
Ireland	8,196,597
Total UK population	26,730,929
Channel Islands & Isle of Man	124,040

Sources

Abstract of the answers and returns made pursuant to acts 3 & 4 Vic. c.99 and 4 Vic. c.7 intituled respectively “An act for taking an account of the population of Great Britain,” and “An act to amend the acts of the last session for taking an account of the population.” Enumeration Abstract. M.DCCC.XLI: p. 1 – 9.

UK, Isle of Man and Channel Islands Census of England and Wales, 1921, Preliminary report including tables of the population enumerated in England and Wales (administrative and parliamentary areas) and in Scotland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands on 19-20th June 1921 BPP 1921 XVI [Cmd.1485] p.62 & 63.