It's Here! It's Here! The 1911 England Census

Tuesday Teachings

The wait is over. You can now search the 1911 England Census at 1911 Census.co.uk

My cousin Jack, just emailed me today to let me know about it. He also included the image for our ancestors, Herbert and Fanny Lake.

Prior to 1911, the census records for England and Wales that were microfilmed, and made available online, have been from the enumerator books. The census enumerators transcribed the information from the householder books into large books. This is why you see fifty lines on each page completely filled in. The householder books for the 1841-1901 England & Wales censuses have all been destroyed.

What is so exciting about the 1911 England census, is that these are the actual householder books that our ancestors filled out. If they were unable to read and/or write, then the enumerator would have assisted them in completing the information.  When you view the pages of the householder books, you will see only one household per page. The advantage of this is if there is more than only family listed you will know they are all living in the same household, and they may be other relatives you will want to research.

Full names, and ages of every person in the household are given. The number of years the present marriage has lasted is recorded. The total number of children born alive to the marriage, the number of children living and the number children died is also recorded.

The last column is covered up. It asks about those individuals who are blind, deaf, dumb, idiot or feeble-minded. Because this information is still protected under the Parliamentary Act regarding census records, this "identifying" information is not revealed. You will be able to see it all in 2012.

As you can see, there is a lot of great information in the 1911 England census available about our English ancestors. Note, that not all counties in England are available, and none of the counties in Wales. But, they are coming, and will be available this year.