How to find your UK ancestors on the census

Census records are invaluable for tracing your UK ancestors through Victorian times and onwards. The census returns of 1841-1921 for England, Wales and Scotland are available online and can give you a unique insight into your ancestors’ lives every 10 years.

 

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What can the censuses taken in the UK tell you?

Census records are snapshots of your ancestors’ lives. They reveal:

• Family members and relationships
• Ages and estimated birth years
• Birthplaces
• Households, and who was living in the same house
• Occupations, giving a glimpse into their daily lives.

Census records can give you an indication of where family members were born before the introduction of civil registration of births, marriages and deaths (BMDs: 1837 in England and Wales, 1855 in Scotland and 1864 in Ireland), so are useful in that respect too.

Use the census to corroborate facts on BMD certificates and vice-versa – you can work out when children were born, or a parent died or remarried, and much more.

Be wary though and use ‘wild cards’ in your searches – many of our ancestors couldn’t read or write, so enumerators may have guessed at how to spell names, or couples may have lied about being married to cover up illegitimacy or another family scandal.

What years was the census taken in the UK?

The censuses were taken every 10 years, and surviving censuses for England, Wales and Scotland date from 1841 to 1921.

For Ireland, sadly the story is not as simple as many of the earlier censuses have not survived – only the 1901 and 1911 Censuses survive in entirety for Ireland – but at least these surviving two censuses are free to use!

Note that the 1921 Census was not taken in Ireland, due to the War of Independence that was being waged at the time.

Note too that earlier censuses were taken, but it is those from 1841 that have particular appeal for family historians as the censuses record the names of everyone in the household, and from 1841 details about how they are related to one another too.

Where can I find the UK census online?

Strictly speaking there is no such thing as a UK census, but there are census records for the various countries of Britain and Ireland.

Census records for England and Wales are available on the pay-per-view/commercial websites: TheGenealogist, MyHeritage, findmypast.co.uk, and Ancestry

Ancestry and Findmypast are the only two websites with access to the 1921 census records for England and Wales. All four of the websites mentioned above cover 1841-1911.

Census records for Scotland are available on pay-per-view website, ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk - 1841-1921.

For Ireland, you can find the 1911 and 1901 census records for Ireland, available free, at https://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/ - this website also provides access to the surviving census records for Ireland from earlier census years (but the majority of the earlier material hasn't survived).

Note too the free transcription site https://www.freecen.org.uk/ - it is a work in progress website, but is definitely worth searching.

For Ireland - the 1921 census was never taken, but people with Irish ancestors can look forward to the release of the 1926 census records for the Republic of Ireland on 18 April 2026. What's more the records will be free!

A census for Northern Ireland was taken in 1926 but the records appear to be lost.

The next census that those with Scottish ancestors can look forward to is the 1931, while for people researching ancestors in England and Wales, the next census to look forward to is the 1951.

How to research your family tree using the UK census

When tracing your ancestors it’s best practice to work backwards... This means that it can be advisable to start with the most recent census available for your country of interest, and then work back in time.

How to use the census for family history in 3 easy steps

1. Have a go on all the census websites... the transcriptions may vary across the websites, making it easier to find an ancestor on one website rather than another
2. Less is more... experiment with your search terms, and remember that sometimes you may need to broaden your search or use fewer search terms in order to track someone down
3. Trawl through census pages... in addition to locating your ancestor in the census, it can be very valuable to view the pages before and after your ancestors' entry. This can give you a flavour of the local area, and you may spot other family members living near by. If you can't immediately find someone in the census, you may decide to work through the census pages for their area, page by page, to see if you can identify them.

What if you can't find you ancestor on the census?

At some point in your research you will undoubtedly stumble upon an ancestor who for some reason mysteriously disappears from one census year, only to return again at the next census, writes Paul Chiddicks. So now we need to explore the various reasons why your ancestor could possibly be missing from the census.

Although we might find numerous census “gaps” on our family trees, in reality, for an individual to actually genuinely be missing from a census year is really quite rare, chances are they are there, but just “hiding”, so hopefully with a few tips and pointers here, we can help you solve the riddle and find that missing ancestor.

A transcription error?

The most obvious reason could be a transcription error. This could be by the census enumerator themselves or more recently, by the large sites that hold copies of the census returns.

At each transcription stage a mistake is possible, so be flexible in the names that you search, use wildcard searches and soundex searches, also use the more than one website to search, try ancestry, FMP, The Genealogist, or My Heritage. You will be surprised at the different results you can get from the one census record.

Be aware of the possible errors. As well as transcription errors, include here straight forward spelling mistakes, census enumerators often wrote what they thought they heard. So always, always check the original image, it might surprise you what it actually reads. Remember also that it was a criminal offence to refuse to give information to a census enumerator that was punishable by a fine.

Was your ancestor elsewhere?

Your ancestor could of course be visiting with another family member or even lodging elsewhere, or did they work as a servant? Could they even be working away from home? Did their trade necessitate regular moves to find work?

Did they have an unusual occupation? If so, less is sometimes more, omit the name from your search and search only by occupation.

Consider asylums, workhouses, hospitals and even jails. These institutions would not always list individuals by their full name, more often than not, the individuals would be listed by initials, so consider these places in your hunt. I had one very elusive ancestor who was sadly in an asylum and very difficult to find.

Residential tenements and shared accommodation can also create problems and could account for missing families. Were they possibly living above a shop, could this have been missed by the enumerator during his rounds?

Other reasons why they may be missing from the census

• Could surnames and Christian names have been reversed, strange but possible, so try reversing the names. Also consider nicknames or abbreviated names, who would have thought that Polly is an abbreviation for Mary Ann.
   
• Could they be overseas? Enlisted with the Armed Forces or maybe even emigrating to pastures new? Check for military or naval records, as well as passenger lists. Could they be on a ship docked in a harbour somewhere? Follow up this possibility if your ancestor was a merchant seaman.
   
• A lost part of the census?
   
• Is your ancestor listed on a lost part of the census? No census is 100% complete. The 1861 census in particular has a number of missing census returns, but all of the census years have, unfortunately, some missing sections. So check to see if the area that you think your ancestor might have lived, is one of the missing census areas.
   
• Did they deliberately avoid the census to disguise some other misdoing? If there is a history of your ancestor avoiding other public records, then chances are he will not be found.
   
• Sometimes even the opposite problem can make a family history researcher’s life a misery! I have known some to be listed at up to three separate places, how do you sort that one out?

Why was my ancestor recorded in the census twice?

There are a number of reasons why your ancestor might actually appear on the same census in two different places:

• Living with extended family: a child or individual may have been claimed by both sets of relatives (e.g. grandparents and cousins), especially if they moved between households.
   
• Helping out in another household: your ancestor may have been staying temporarily with extended family to assist, especially common for girls in domestic roles.
   
• Split households: the individual may have genuinely been dividing their time between two homes, such as between a parent’s and a sibling’s or spouse’s household.
   
• Filled out the census in advance: institutions like military bases, ships, or workhouses sometimes completed forms based on who was expected to be there, regardless of who was present on census night.
   
• Family secrecy or social pressure: A person might be recorded in two households to mask sensitive situations, such as a hidden pregnancy or separation.
   
• Enumerator error: occasionally, an enumerator might list the same people more than once in error, especially when transcribing field notes.
   
• Mistaken identity within a small area: in close-knit communities, the same person might be known differently in different contexts, leading to dual listings.
   
• Clerical habits or misunderstandings: some heads of household might include absent members out of habit or misunderstanding of census instructions.

Reasons above based on an article originally written by Paul Chiddicks.