The nineteenth century Census returns are a fantastic resource for the genealogist. Nowadays they are all available on line, but with some exceptions they are on a pay-per-view basis.
Many genealogical supplies companies also provide Census returns on CD-rom and these are readily available either via genealogical magazines or on-line.
A Census of the population has taken place every 10 years since 1801 (excluding 1941) but few of the early ones survived as they were supposed to have been destroyed after being analysed. For the genealogist the starting point for research is the 1841 Census which is now easily available on-line.
These are some of the sites where you will find Census returns for some or all of the following years: 1841,1851,1861,1871,1881,1891,1901:
www.ancestry.co.uk
www.familysearch.co.uk
www.findmypast.com
www.1901censusonline.com
www.GenesReunited.co.uk
Because of confidentiallity it is not possible (except in special circumstances) to view Census returns less than 100 years old. At the moment the latest records available to the public date from 1901, so if you know that great-grandad was born in, say, 1900, you can tap in to the search engine on one of the above sites and come up with a list of possibilities. If you know the place of birth and the names of other family members it is usually a simple job to identify your ancestor on the Census.
Of course it is not always as easy as that - urban areas where there was a large movement of populations pose particular problems for the researcher. It helps if your ancestor has an unusual name - one of mine was a guy called Ambrose Pierpoint, and there are not too many people with that name!
Over the next few blogs I will explain how to make the best use of the Census returns to enable you to build up a picture of your family's life in times past.
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