How Censuses Work and How They Can Help You

The history of the census is a long one, but in its most recent incarnation, the census that is performed in the UK is utilised for a number of tasks. Primarily, it acts as a way to count the population. This is what the census has always been for – a way to accurately record how many people there are in the country, who has died and who has been born. In the last century, the census has been amended to include more information, such as relationship between household members, religion and other details. However, these cannot be accessed by the public due to the 100 year rule which does not allow members of the public to see any records in the last century. Since 2011 is a census year, 1911 has just been made accessible.



The 100 year rule doesn’t really stop people from having access to many excellent resources when tracing their family trees. Censuses going back to 1841 include information on the names of people in households (after this it sadly records just numbers). From 1851 onwards, the people were not only named but their relationship to the ‘head of the house’ was also listed, meaning you can see whether or not they were related to the head of the house or worked as a servant. Censuses also recorded the ages of citizens, though these were not always accurate: the age was frequently rounded down to the nearest five years. Still, this means that ages are at least a close approximation.

Censuses can be highly useful when attempting to trace one’s ancestors. If you have names, locations, ages or any other information then you can search through census databases and find your ancestors’ entries recorded into the census. This is a fantastic resource that thousands of people have turned to in the tracing of their family tree, and is one that can only be expected to get better in the future as every upcoming census strives to be more informative than the last.



One thing that you should remember, however, is that although censuses are impressively accurate in the recording of population numbers, census takers weren’t always as thorough when recording birthplaces: sometimes, the place of birth was written as the place the census was taken when this may not be correct, so bear this in mind when using censuses to help you trace your ancestors.



Using a census is an excellent source to help you trace your ancestors and a wonderful addition to the many resources you will also be using in your hunt.



Isla Campbell writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.