Censuses and Quasi-Censuses

This entry in the Knowledge Base refers to census questions by terms used at the time. This terminology is now obsolete and its use in this entry is limited to quotations.

The word ‘census’ was originally a Latin term for a valuation (from the verb censere, meaning to value, count, enrol or tax). In Roman times the census was a registered statement of the particulars of each person’s property for taxation or military purposes – an enumeration and register of Roman citizens and their property. This original idea of a census is much close to the idea of cess rolls or valuation rolls (see below for Knowledge Base entries for these), which have been used in Scotland to record the value of the property of certain individuals for the purposes of national and local taxation from the 17th century until the present day. Perhaps the earliest list of the inhabitants of Scotland, although it was limited to landowners, churchmen and burgesses, was the Ragman Roll, ordered by Edward I of England in 1296.[1] Since the 19th century the term ‘census’ has come to mean an enumeration of the inhabitants of a state, or part of it, taken by order of its legislature, primarily to aid the calculation of official statistics and the formation of central and local government policy. Two forms of record produced in census taking are of use to historians and other researchers: the statistics themselves, which are normally published, and the census enumerators’ schedules for each household.

Statistics

Many countries in Europe began taking censuses and publishing national statistics in the mid-18th century. A bill in the Westminster parliament proposing a census of Britain was defeated in 1753, but the compilation of population statistics was begun shortly afterwards on a commercial basis, most notably by Rev Alexander Webster, who published a ‘census’ in 1755, based on returns made by Church of Scotland parish ministers.[2] A more ambitious project was the Statistical Account of Scotland, compiled from ministers’ returns by Sir John Sinclair between 1791 and 1799. Later statistical accounts were compiled in the mid-19th century and mid-20th century.

The Population Act 1800 was passed as a result of growing anxieties about the availability of food in Britain.[3] In March 1801, the first modern census was undertaken. The information collected allowed an estimate to be made of the rate at which the population was growing. Since this date, a census has been undertaken every 10 years in the first year of each decade. However, the returns for 1811 to 1831 only give statistical data concerning population numbers rather than specific information relating to individuals.

Schedules

The Population Act 1840 resulted in a new approach to the collection of population information and the census of the following year was the first national census to name individuals and give their occupations, ages and places of birth.[4]

From 1841 onwards, a schedule of questions has been answered by the head of each household during each census. This records the names and various other details of each person resident in the household on the night of the census. No schedules were returned centrally, only statistics. A few of the lists of households compiled by schoolmasters survive in private hands or in the NRS or local archives, often being held with kirk session records.

The census took place on one day across the country. Scotland was divided into what were called enumeration districts based on the existing parish boundaries. Larger parishes were then subdivided to enable the officials to gather the information within the day.

Before 1841, parish schoolmasters were responsible for compiling the censuses, and did so in 1801, 1811, 1821 and 1831. They delivered schedules to the houses in the area they covered on the day before Census Day. The completed forms were then collected the following day, checked and the details copied into the enumerator’s book. The information that we access today is taken from these notebooks, not from the original forms, which were destroyed. At the beginning of each enumeration district in the census volumes there is usually a description of the area that may give detailed information about the route taken by the enumerator and other geographical information.

Years and Information Given

The census took place on:-

• 6^th June 1841
• 30^th March 1851
• 7^th April 1861
• 2^nd April 1871
• 3^rd April 1881
• 5^th April 1891
• 31^st March 1901
• 2^nd April 1911

The returns give a snapshot of all the people in a household on the night the census was undertaken including any visitors in the household at the time.

As the 1841 and 1851 census’ happened before the beginning of civil registration in 1855, the information given is particularly valuable as it allows cross checking with other records dating from this period such as church registers.

The information recorded is different for different census years as the instructions given to the enumerators changed. Details are as follows: –

1841

• Head of the household is not indicated.
• Ages are rounded down to the nearest 5 years for those aged 15 and over.
• Places of birth are not specified beyond Scotland, England, Ireland or ‘foreign’.
• Occupations are given as abbreviations.

1851

• Each household is given a schedule number making it easier to tell the extent of each one.
• The head of the family is given along with the relationship of each other member to the head.
• The precise age of each person is given.
• The place of birth is more detailed with the parish given as well as the country.
• Marital status is indicated.
• A column is present to record if individuals are blind, deaf or dumb.

1861

• It is stated whether the children attend school.
• Rooms having one or more windows are indicated.

1891

• Gaelic speakers are indicated.

1911

• The number of years married is given.
• The number of children both born alive and still living is given.
• The industry or service associated with the occupation is given.
• It is indicated whether people are regarded as: 1) ‘totally deaf or deaf and dumb’, 2) ‘totally blind’, 3) ‘lunatic’, 4) ‘imbecile or feeble minded’.

The information gathered by each census is used to generate statistics and then access to the detailed data is closed, normally for 100 years. Once available for research the submitted schedules are a key resource for genealogists, demographers and social historians. The NRS holds the original schedules and those from the open censuses are available on a pay-per-view website,<www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk > [accessed 26 April 2024] or by visiting the ScotlandsPeople Centre or associated family history services for a daily fee. Microfilm copies of the schedules for 1841 – 1891 are available in local studies libraries, some local authority archives, and are held by some family history societies.

From 1861 onwards the gathering of census data was the responsibility of the General Register Office for Scotland, now National Records of Scotland (NRS). Statistics are published by Her Majesty’s Stationery Office (HMSO). Census statistics for the 19th century can also be found in a variety of publications, most notably the Ordnance Gazetteer for Scotland, published by Francis H Groome in 1884, 1896 and 1901.

Compiler: Pam McNicol (Stirling Council Archives, 2021)

Related Knowledge Base entries

Ragman Roll

Webster’s Census

Pre-1841 parish household surveys

1851 religious census

Cess Rolls

Valuation Rolls

Statistical Accounts

Links

ScotlandsPeople <https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/> [accessed 26 April 2024]

Bibliography

Chapman, Colin, Pre-1841 Censuses and Population Listings in the British Isles 4th edition (Lochin Publishing, 1994)

Gibson, Jeremy and Mervyn Medlycott, Local Census Listings 1522-1930: holdings in the British Isles 3rd edition (Federation of Family History Societies, 1997)

Higgs, Edward, A Clearer Sense of the Census: the Victorian censuses and historical research (HMSO, 1996)

Kyd, James Gray(ed), Scottish Population Statistics, including Webster’s ‘Analysis of Population 1755’ (Scottish History Society/T & A Constable, 1975).

Ruthven-Murray, Peter, Scottish Census Indexes: covering the 1841-1871 civil censuses 3rd edition (Scottish Association of Family History Societies, 1998)

Sinclair, Cecil, Jock Tamsons Bairns: a history of the records of the GROS (HMSO, 2000)

 

References

[1] The National Archives (London) C 47/23/3 Ragman Roll, 1296.

[2] Alexander Webster Account of the Number of People in Scotland in the Year One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty-Five, (ms, 1755).

[3] Act for taking account of the population of Great Britain and of the increase or diminution thereof, 1800 (41 Geo. III c.15).

[4] Population Act 1840 (4 & 5 Vict. c.99).