1901 Census

1901 Census of the UK

The 1901 census of the UK was held on 31st March 1901, at the dawn of a new era. Not only was it the first UK census of the 20th Century, but it was also the first UK census since the 1831 census to be held under a monarch other than Queen Victoria.

As usual, the 1901 UK census combined three censuses; England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Whilst a decennial census for Ireland had been held since 1821, it is hugely significant for people of Irish ancestry because it is the first Irish census with complete census records.

Effects of the Second Boer War

As was the norm, the 1901 census did not fully record the personal details of servicemen (and their families) posted abroad during the census. This has caused difficulties over the years for researchers of those men fighting overseas during a decennial census. The 1901 census is particularly problematic in this regard because it straddled the period of the Boer War (1899 – 1902) which involved 347,000 British servicemen. The 1911 census was the first decennial UK census to fully enumerate British personnel overseas.

1901 Census Questions

As usual, the householder was to provide personal details of all those who stayed overnight on 31 March, or who returned the next morning.

1901 census questions summary

Details	England & Wales	Scotland	Ireland
Name	✓	✓	✓
Relation to head of the family	✓	✓	✓
Marital status	✓	✓	✓
Age	✓	✓	✓
Male or Female	✓	✓	✓
Profession or occupation (Ireland: 'Rank, profession or occupation') plus sub-questions in England, Wales and Scotland only: - whether employer, worker or self-employed ('own account'). - whether working from home.	✓	✓	✓
Where born? England & Wales census: householders also instructed to enter the nationality of foreign born individuals (and if British, whether by birth or naturalised).	✓	✓	✓
If deaf & dumb, blind, lunatic, imbecile, feebleminded (Ireland: slight variation).	✓	✓	✓
Religion	X	X	✓
Education - whether he/she can 'read and write', 'read' or 'cannot read'	X	X	✓
Language: Ireland: 'Irish' or 'Irish & English' Wales: Welsh or English & Welsh Scotland: Gaelic or 'G & E' (Gaelic & English) Isle of Man: Manx or Manx & English	✓	✓	✓

In England and Wales, the householder again had to declare the number of rooms (if less than 5), and in Scotland, the number of windowed rooms.

Improvements since the census of 1891

The new century did not usher in any great reforms to the decennial census and the questions remained broadly the same as the 1891 census.

Employment

The wording of the employment question was brushed up and harmonised across the whole of Great Britain. It was now split into three columns: profession or occupation; employer, worker, working on own account (i.e. self-employed); working from home.

In Ireland, there was just one column – ‘rank, profession or occupation’ – to describe the occupation of each individual.

Where born

Under the ‘where born’ question, householders were now instructed to provide the nationality of anyone born in a foreign country; previously, they were only instructed to advise whether an individual was a British subject by birth or a British subject by naturalisation. However, it was not until the census of 1911 that a separate ‘nationality’ question was introduced.

‘Language’ questions extended

A ‘language’ question was first introduced in the 1881 census for Scotland to establish the number of Gaelic speakers. A decade later, a language question was adopted in Wales (to establish the number of Welsh speakers). For the 1901 census, a similar language question was introduced in the Isle of Man to determine the number of Manx speakers. Individuals in the Isle of Man were described as speaking English only, Manx only, or both English and Manx. Manx was a type of Gaelic with close ties to Scottish Gaelic.

Procedure

Again, the new century did not introduce any great changes to the way in which the census was carried out – these were to come in the following census of 1911. As in previous census years, enumerators distributed householder’s schedules (in Ireland: ‘forms’) in which householders were to provide the personal details of all their occupants (including anyone due to return the next morning). The details held in these schedules were copied into books (census enumerator’s books – aka CEB).

In Great Britain, the CEB formed the census records that we consult today; the original householder’s schedules were routinely destroyed once their information had been extracted. The situation was different in Ireland; here, the householder’s forms were retained. These are the Ireland census records that we can view today – often in the householder’s own handwriting.

Census 1901 – Population recorded*

Country	Population
England & Wales	32,527,843
Scotland	4,472,103
Ireland	4,458,775
Total UK population	41,458,721
Channel Islands & Isle of Man	150,370

Sources

*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