1911 Census

1911 Census of Great Britain and Ireland

The 1911 UK census, held on 2nd April 1911, introduced more reforms than any census since the ‘first modern’ census of 1841. It was the first census to use ‘punched cards’ and to collect personal details of members of the British army posted overseas.

Census questions were also expanded, sometimes controversially, triggering a suffragettes’ boycott. The 1911 census was also the last census to include the whole of Ireland.

1911 Census Questions

The householder needed to provide personal details of those who stayed overnight on 2 April or returned the next morning:

1911 census questions summary

Details	England & Wales	Scotland	Ireland
Name	✓	✓	✓
Relation to head of the family	✓	✓	✓
Age	✓	✓	✓
Male or Female	✓	✓	✓
Marital status plus following fertility questions for married women only: - years currently married. - number of children born alive. - number of children still alive. - children who have died (England and Wales).	✓	✓	✓
Profession or occupation Ireland: 'Rank, profession or occupation' England, Wales and Scotland only: - industry/service of employer. - whether employer, worker or self-employed ('own account'). - whether working from home. England & Wales only: - article made/material used (if in trade or manufacturing). - name of public body (if state employed)	✓	✓	✓
Birthplace/where born? The wording throughout the UK varied but generally, an individual's county, city, town or parish was required, unless born abroad, when the country was required. England & Wales census only: if born outside England or Wales, whether 'resident' or 'visitor'.	✓	✓	✓
Nationality (if born in a foreign country)	✓	✓	X
If deaf & dumb, blind, lunatic, imbecile, feebleminded (Ireland: slight variation). England & Wales: Age afflicted. Scotland: whether from infancy.	✓	✓	✓
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 had to declare the number of rooms (other than scullery, landing, lobby, closet, bathroom or commercial premises), and in Scotland, the number of windowed rooms.

1911 census – new questions

The 1911 UK census was significant for the number of new or enhanced (some would say intrusive) questions. The most controversial change, applicable to all parts of the UK, led to a significant boycott of the ‘fertility census’.

The ‘fertility’ census questions

The marital status question was extended to include a set of enquiries applicable to married women only; how long married; number of children ‘born alive’; how many children ‘still living’. England and Wales included a somewhat superfluous extra column titled ‘children who have died’.

These ‘fertility’ questions were deeply unpopular and were particularly ill-timed. The suffragette movement was in full flight and the 1910 Black Friday Demonstration, which attracted accusations of police brutality against suffragettes, was still fresh in the memory. The result was an active ‘boycott the census’ movement amongst many women but as the fine for obstructing the census was £5, many ‘census evaders’ chose to spend the night in a hotel – or be absent in other imaginative ways. Others were more bold, writing declarations on their census form such as ‘no persons here only women!’ and ‘No Vote. No Census’.

Despite their understandable unpopularity, these fertility questions are a boon for family historians.

Census of Great Britain – new questions

Other changes to the 1911 census were limited to England, Wales and Scotland:

• Employment questions. A new sub-section asked for details of the industry or service in which employed. The census for England & Wales went further and asked for the name of the public body (if state employed) and a ‘precise’ description of occupation including (if in trade or manufacturing) the kind of work/article made/material used.
• Nationality question. The 1901 census had asked householders to provide the nationality of foreign born individuals under the existing ‘where born’ question. This was now a standalone question for the first time. In England and Wales, British subjects were to be categorised by birth or by naturalisation, including date of naturalisation if applicable.
• Infirmity question. Again, this was expanded. In England and Wales, it now asked for the age at which a person was afflicted. In Scotland, the question asked whether the infirmity dated from childhood.
• Number of rooms of the householder’s dwelling. In England and Wales, this question now applied to all properties. Previously it had only applied to properties with less than 5 rooms. (Scotland continued to ask for the number of windowed rooms.)

Householder’s schedules

Prior to the census of 1911, the system of collecting census returns had barely altered since census of 1841. Before 1911, householders were required to complete ‘householder’s schedules’, listing the personal details of all those staying at the household on census night (or returning next morning). Unfortunately (for historians) these schedules were destroyed once their contents had been copied into census enumerator’s books (the ‘CEB’ that we consult today).

The 1911 census for England and Wales was the first census in Great Britain to retain householder’s schedules and these now formed part of the census records. (This system actually aligned with a process first adopted in Ireland back in 1841 – making it doubly frustrating that barely any 19th century Ireland census records survive.) At the same time, the census enumerator’s books were replaced with ‘census summary books’ (CSB) which recorded the head of the family only.

The 1911 census for Scotland did not adopt the new system until the 1921 census.

The British Army Posted Overseas

For the first time, the UK census of 1911 included the personal details of servicemen and their families posted overseas. The exclusion of these individuals, prior to 1911, has long been a source of frustration to family historians.

Punched cards

Another major development was the introduction of punched cards which mechanised the process of entering data. This system was first used in the 1890 census of the United States. The 1911 Ireland census was the only part of the UK not to adopt punched cards.

Census 1911 – Population recorded*

Country	Population
England & Wales	36,070,492
Scotland	4,760,904
Ireland	4,390,219
Total UK population	45,221,615
Channel Islands & Isle of Man	148,915

Sources

* UK Population: 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