Integrated Census Microdata (I-CeM)

• Home
• Usage
• Access
• Data dictionary
• Census history
• Metadata
• Bibliography
• Acknowledgements

Census of 1851: England and Wales

Higgs & Schürer (2013)

The 1851 census of Great Britain, taken under the 1850 Census Act (13&14 Vict., c.53), was undoubtedly the most ambitious decennial enumeration of the Victorian period. 1851 was the first year that census taking had been organised by Major George Graham as Registrar General and head of the GRO in London[1], and he seems to have envisaged extending the process into a very broad series of statistical investigations. The population census was not only greatly expanded compared to that of 1841, but censuses of religious worship and provision in educational institutions were also undertaken.[2]

The 1851 population census was more ambitious than that of 1841 in a number of ways. The householder's schedule that was distributed asked for more information on members of the household, or asked for similar information but in a more extensive form. Addresses now had to include house numbers, rather than just street names. Exact ages rather than five-year age groups were required. Birthplaces had now to be given in the form of parish/town, county, and (if foreign born) country, rather than just an indication of whether born in the same county, or in Scotland, Ireland, or 'Foreign Parts' as in the previous enumeration. New questions were included on the relationship to the head of the family, marital status, and medical disabilities (whether blind, or deaf and dumb). Lengthier, and more detailed, instructions on how to fill out the schedules were also given (see documents below). Household schedules in Welsh were produced but the enumerators' books were always in English. The enumeration was now far more useful as a means of examining the internal structure of Victorian families. This set the basic form of the census enquiries until 1891, and even then there were no great changes until the twentieth century.

There were also some important administrative and statistical changes to the census. In 1841 there was little attempt to enumerate the population living outside households and institutions on Census Night. Only a headcount seems to have been made of those on Royal Navy vessels, or those of the merchant marine, whilst, in theory, fishing vessels, travellers, and night workers were missed altogether. In 1851 special ship's schedules were introduced for shipping arriving in British ports within a certain period, and travellers and night workers arriving in households on the day after Census Night were now officially to be included. However, the ship schedules for 1851 do not appear to have survived. Internal shipping on canals was also to be captured by the enumerators.[3] Similarly, the Census Reports in 1841 had presented their statistical data on the basis of the ancient administrative districts of counties, hundreds, wapentakes, sokes, and large towns, so as to ensure comparability with earlier censuses. Indeed, although the 1841 returns were collected on the basis of enumeration districts, they were subsequently physically rearranged into the older administrative divisions to facilitate analysis on this basis. The 1851 Census Reports, however, presented the statistics for each parish or place under their respective registration districts and sub-districts, grouped by registration divisions. Data on ecclesiastical districts were also given. The returns were also physically preserved in the arrangement that reflected their creation via the registration system.[4]

The main published volumes of the Census Reports for 1851 (see references below), were also lengthier than those of 1841, and were made up of two series. The first series, in two volumes, gave the population in each census from 1801 to 1851 for the various districts, as well as information on houses in 1841 and 1851. The second series, also in two volumes, gave the results of the enquiries into ages, civil conditions, occupations, and birthplaces of the population. Separate volumes for the educational and religious censuses were also produced.

The extra work involved in the administration and analysis of the multiple investigations of 1851 plainly overtaxed the limited resources of the GRO, leading to delays in its production of its other main output, the Annual Reports of the Registrar General of Births, Marriages and Deaths.[5] Thus, the full Fourteenth Annual Report for 1851 did not appear until 1855, a delay which caused serious problems for those seeking up to date information on local death rates. In the early 1850s the GRO had to issue two sets of Reports: an earlier, shorter version in the Parliamentary Papers containing only tables, and a longer version, with commentary, as a separately published edition.[6] This extra burden was also reflected in the expenses incurred at the GRO's central Census Office. The 1841 Census cost £28,000 centrally, and that for 1861 incurred expenses of £28,800, but the 1851 census cost £33,000.[7] These issues, and the controversy aroused by the religious survey, may help to explain why neither the educational census, nor that on religious worship, was ever repeated by the GRO. The GRO in England and Wales also declined to introduce new questions into the Census until 1891, and even then it only did so under pressure.[8]

Census of 1851: Scotland

As already noted, since there was no equivalent to the London GRO in Scotland at this date, Graham's department undertook the enumeration of the northern kingdom as well. In England and Wales the census was administered locally through the local registrars of births, marriages and deaths, who appointed enumerators to hand out and collect census schedules in sub-divisions of their registration districts. In Scotland, however, the census was organised locally by the county sheriffs and sheriff substitutes, with the parochial school masters acting as enumerators. In the Islands in the British Seas the task of organisation fell to the respective lieutenant governors.[9]

With a couple of exceptions the enumeration in Scotland followed the same course as in England. These exceptions related to the place of birth question on the householder's schedule (see documents): "Opposite the Names of those born in Scotland write the County, and Town or Parish. If born in England, Ireland, the British Colonies, the East Indies or in Foreign Parts, state the Country; in each case if a British Subject add "British Subject"'. The instructions on the reverse of the householders schedule also included some Scottish-only occupational information for the clergy and the legal profession.

1851 Census Publications: Great Britain; Islands in the British Seas

Census of Great Britain, 1851, Tables of the population and houses in the divisions, registration counties, and districts of England and Wales; in the counties, cities, and burghs of Scotland; and in the islands in the British seas. BPP 1851 XLIII 73- [1399].

Census of Great Britain, 1851, Forms and instructions prepared under the direction of one if He Majestry's principal secretaries of state, for the use of the persons employed in taking and account of the population of Great Britain, by virtue of the act of 13 and 14 Victoria, cap.53. BPP 1851 XLIII 1- [1399].

Census of Great Britain, 1851, Population tables. I. Numbers of the inhabitants, in the years 1801, 1811, 1821, 1831, 1841, and 1851. Vol. I. BPP 1852 - 53 LXXXV 1- [1631].

Census of Great Britain, 1851, Population tables. I. Numbers of the inhabitants, in the years 1801, 1811, 1821, 1831, 1841, and 1851. Vol. II. BPP 1852 - 53 LXXXVI 1- [1632].

Census of Great Britain, 1851, Index to the names of the parishes, townships, and places in the population tables of Great Britain. BPP 1852 - 53 LXXXVII 1- [1633].

Census of Great Britain, 1851, Population tables. II. Ages, civil condition, occupations, and birth-place of the people: with the numbers and ages of the blind, the deaf-and-dumb, and the inmates of workhouses, prisons, lunatic asylums, and hospitals. Vol. I. BPP 1852 - 53 LXXXVIII 1- [1691-I].

Census of Great Britain, 1851, Population tables. II. Ages, civil condition, occupations, and birth-place of the people: with the numbers and ages of the blind, the deaf-and-dumb, and the inmates of workhouses, prisons, lunatic asylums, and hospitals. Vol. II. BPP 1852 - 53 LXXXVIII 1- [1691-II].

Census (1841 and 1851), Returns of the expense incurred in taking the census of Great Britain in 1841 and in 1851, showing the number of persons enumerated, the heads of information comprised in the inquiry, and the cost per 1,000 of the population. BPP 1852 - 53 XXXIX 333- (442).

1851 Census Publications: Islands in the British Seas

Census of Great Britain, 1851, Tables of the population and houses in the divisions, registration counties, and districts of England and Wales; in the counties, cities, and burghs of Scotland; and in the islands in the British seas. BPP 1851 XLIII 73- [1399].