Census Records [3 of 8]
FAMILY HISTORY
The earliest gathering of statistical information in Scotland was undertaken by the Reverend Alexander Webster in 1755 (Sinclair, 2000) with the first national census in the UK taking place in 1801, and since then there has been a census every ten years.
Census Records
Making lists or inventories of people, equipment, buildings, weaponry, food and livestock has been undertaken by governments and rulers of countries for many thousands of years; it is nothing new. The earliest gathering of statistical information in Scotland was undertaken by the Reverend Alexander Webster in 1755 (Sinclair, 2000) with the first national census in the UK taking place in 1801, and since then there has been a census every ten years. From 1801 to 1831, in Scotland, the censuses were carried out by the parish schoolmasters. In the UK, the 1841 population census is generally accepted to be the first modern census of any significance to the family historian. Whilst it is true to say that some quite basic details[1] were collected in 1841, each census carried out every decade since then, has added detail to the records collected. Every person in the country on a specific night had to be named and described according to certain questions laid down by the Act of Parliament which authorised that census. There were also questions about the houses in which people were living (Sinclair, 2000). In the 19 th century, the censuses were taken on the nights of:
6 / 7 June 1841
30 / 31 March 1851
7 / 8 April 1861
2 / 3 April 1871
3 / 4 April 1881
5 / 6 April 1891
A page from the 1841 Census for the family of John EGLINTON is at Figure 1 © Crown Copyright National Records of Scotland. Note the detail available in the table below Figure 1.
Figure 1 The Family of John EGLINTON (1841 Census) and Transcribed
Although carried out every decade by law there are a small number of exceptions to that rule. For example, in the whole of the United Kingdom there was no census carried out in 1941 because of the Second World War. There was, however, an inventory of the population in 1939, in anticipation of the war. This 1939 inventory is felt to be a reasonable alternative to the 1941 census. More recently, in 2021, the Scottish government used its devolved powers to postpone it's 2021 census return. This was due to the Covid-19 pandemic, although England and Wales continued with theirs.
There are privacy rules around the information collected in a census. It is not accessible or available for 100 years after it has been collected. That is not to say that governments do not get access to some of the demographic data, because they do, for administration and planning purposes. However, at the time of writing this book (February 2023) the 1921 census information has just recently become available to access.
Figure 2 The Family of John EGLINTON (1851 Census) and Transcribed
A page from the 1851 Census for the family of John EGLINTON is at Figure 2 © Crown Copyright National Records of Scotland. Compare the detail available with that from Figure 1.
The census records of the United Kingdom then are a valuable source of information for family history research. They provide a unique insight into the lives of people living in the UK over the years, allowing us to trace the evolution of family structures, occupations and living conditions over time. Census records are held by The National Archives and are available to view online or can be accessed through local archives and libraries networks, family history groups and societies etc. In Scotland it is New Register House and General Register House (National Records of Scotland, 2023).
The census records provide a wealth of information, including the names and ages of all members of the household, their occupations, the place of birth of each person, marital status, and the relationships between members of the household. This information can be used to trace family connections and to build up a picture of the lives of our ancestors.
Figure 3 Household members in the 1851 Census © Ancestry[2] from Ancestry
Another census record for a John EGLINTON is at Figure 3. A comparison is now able to be made between the handwritten document and the transcribed version to ascertain whether or not these are the same families. It is not at all unusual to find extra detail in the original handwritten record, especially where additional notes are available on the original but don’t make their way to the transcribed version.
Notice how the Mothers Name is Chris. Is that Christine? Or Christina? Or Christian? Cross checking elsewhere reveals that her name is Christina. Notice the address. Numerous Eglinton families lived in and around the same streets.
[1] Full names, ages rounded down to nearest 5 years for adults, occupations, whether born in county of residence (Bevan & Duncan, 1990)
[2] Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1851 Scotland Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.
Original Data: Scotland. 1851 Scotland Census. Reels 1-217. General Register Office for Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland.
References
National Records of Scotland, 2023. ScotlandsPeople. [Online]
Available at: https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/
[Accessed 22 February 2023].
Sinclair, C., 2000. Jock Tamson’s bairns: a history of the records of the General Register Office for Scotland. Edinburgh: National Records of Scotland.
