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Census of 1891: England and Wales

Higgs & Schürer (2013)

The 1891 census of England and Wales, held on 5/6 April of that year under the provisions of the 1890 Census Act (53&54 Vict. c. 4), saw some important changes in the nature of the information collected. Householders were to supply the same information as in the previous four censuses for each individual in their households: name, relationship to head of family, marital status, age, sex, occupation, birthplace, and medical disabilities. As before, institutions and ships arriving in British ports within a set period were given their own schedules. As usual, household schedules in Welsh were produced but the enumerators' books were always in English. However, in 1891 the household and enumerators' schedules had an extra column for inserting the number of rooms occupied by the household, if under five, and an extra three columns - headed 'employer', 'employed', 'neither employer nor employed' - for inserting a cross indicating employment status.[1] A special schedule was also introduced into Wales and Monmouthshire, with a column headed 'Language Spoken'. Householders were to put 'English' if they only spoke English, 'Welsh' if they only spoke Welsh, and 'Both' if they spoke English and Welsh (see documents below).[2] In some of these innovations London was following the precedents set by the Scottish GRO in previous censuses.

However, it would be a mistake to see this as necessarily a sign of renewed energy in the London GRO after the rather conservative nature of the 1881 census of England and Wales. The most important of these innovations had been forced upon a very reluctant GRO in the wake of the 1890 Treasury Committee on the Census.[3] During the Committee's taking of evidence social scientists such as Charles Booth and Alfred Marshall had argued for changes in the classification of occupations used in the Census Reports, and the insertion of the question regarding employment status. The GRO fought vigorously against the insertion of this enquiry, and subsequently claimed that its results were too poor to merit reporting on.[4] Modern analysis of the data indicates that the returns were not as unhelpful as the GRO claimed.[5] The Registrar General, Sir Brydges Henniker, also courted controversy by foolishly hinting in his General Report that the number of Welsh speakers had been inflated due to the effects of Welsh nationalism. However, the usual confusion on the part of householders as to the exact information required was probably a more potent source of error, and Henniker had to retract this insinuation publicly.[6]

The London GRO's conservatism in this period re-asserted itself in the overall structure of the published Census Reports (see references below). The 1891 publications certainly show many similarities to those of 1881 and 1871, but stood in marked contrast to the changes to be introduced in 1901. The first volume to be published, in 1891, contained preliminary tables giving the number of houses, and populations, in various administrative units, including counties, registration districts, and sanitary districts. The rest of the Census Reports for 1891 were all published in the Parliamentary Papers for 1893-4. As in 1881, there were two Reports giving the areas, raw numbers of people and houses enumerated, both in registration district units, sanitary districts, and older county units Volume III contained more detailed tables relating to ages, civil conditions, occupations, birthplaces, and medical disabilities broken down by the various registration divisions of the country. These were followed by the General Report which contained a broad discussion of the results and general tables respecting the characteristics of individuals (sex, age, marital status, birthplaces, occupations and medical disabilities), and of places (houses, population densities, etc.). But it also contained a discussion of the results of the language enquiry in Wales and Monmouth and of the supposedly poor results of the enquiry on employment status. This discursive treatment was then followed by three appendices:

Appendix A - tables of data on the characteristics of individuals and places;

Appendix B - the differences between the classification systems for occupations in 1881 and 1891 (this was apparently to satisfy the 1890 Treasury Committee on the Census);

Appendix C - the Census Act, and copies of schedules.

There was also a separate Report along similar lines for the Islands in the British. Finally, there was an index to parishes, townships and other places, giving the districts and pages of the Reports on which they appeared.

Census of 1891: Scotland

In Scotland the 1891 census was taken on April 5/6 under the provisions of the 1890 Census (Scotland) Act (53&54 Vict. c.38), Stair Agnew still being the Scottish Registrar General. The Scottish census was taken in the same manner as previous years, and asked similar questions to those in England and Wales, although with the additional question asked in 1881 with respect to Gaelic speaking and the number of rooms with one or more windows (see documents below). The instructions for the question on Gaelic speaking now asked householders to 'Write "Gaelic" opposite the name of each person who speaks Gaelic only, and "G and E" opposite the name of each person who speaks both Gaelic and English'. The definition of the house was still that same as that used in 1881. Although the Scottish GRO was as reticent as its London counterpart in discussing the results of the new question on employment status, it did analyze the data collected in a lengthy series of tables.[7] Having excluded government employees, the Army and Navy, the professions, and those in service and commercial occupations, the tables showed that out of the remaining 628,459 men with occupations only 48,881 did not put themselves down as either an employer, employee, or working on own account.[8] At just over 7 per cent, this figure does not seem vitiate the results of the question on employment status as the London GRO contended. As always, the Scottish occupational classification system used in the published reports was slightly different to that used in England and Wales.

The published Census Reports for the Scottish census of 1891 (see references below) comprised five volumes. The first volume, published in 1891, was a preliminary report giving some initial findings with respect to the numbers of people, houses, numbers of rooms with windows, and the increase or decrease of populations of defined districts. The next publication, in 1892, was Volume I of the full Reports. This examined in more detail the population, families, languages and housing of Scotland, and the rates of population changes in defined areas. This was followed in 1983 by a supplement showing boundary changes made under the provisions of the 1889 Local Government (Scotland) Act. That year also saw the publication of two substantive volumes giving details of the ages, education, marriages, birthplaces, disabilities, and occupations of the Scottish populations.

1891 Census Publications: England and Wales; Islands in the British Seas

Report of the committee appointed by the Treasury to inquire into certain questions connected with the taking of the census, with minutes of evidence and appendices, and a copy of the Treasury minute appointing the committee. BPP 1890 LVIII 13- [C.6071].

Census of England and Wales, 1891, Preliminary report, and tables of the population and houses enumerated in England and Wales, and in the islands in the British Seas, on 6th April 1891. BPP 1890 - 91 XCIV 1- [C.6422].

Census of England and Wales, 1891, Area, houses, and population. Vol. I. Administrative and ancient counties. BPP 1893 - 94 CIV 1- [C.6948].

Census of England and Wales, 1891, Area, houses, and population. Vol. II. Registration areas and sanitary districts. BPP 1893 - 94 CV 1- [C.6948-I].

Census of England and Wales, 1891, Ages, condition as to marriage, occupations, birth-places, and infirmities. Vol. III. BPP 1893 - 94 CVI 1- [C.7058].

Census of England and Wales, 1891, Index to the population tables of England and Wales. BPP 1893 - 94 CIV 519- [C.7216].

Census of England and Wales, 1891, Volume IV. General report, with summary tables and appendices. BPP 1893 - 94 CVI 629- [C.7222].

Census of England and Wales, 1891, Occupations of the people (England and Wales) enumerated in 1871, 1881, and 1891. Return showing the numbers of males and females (distinguishing those aged under and over 20 years) enumerated in England and Wales, at each of the three censuses in 1871, 1881, and 1891, under the various occupational headings in the census reports for those years; &c. BPP 1895 LXXX 245- (468).

1891 Census Publications: Scotland

Census of Scotland, 1891, Tables of the number of the population, of the families, of houses, and of rooms with windows, in Scotland and its islands, on 5th April 1891.BPP 1890-91 XCIV 153- [C.6390].

Census of Scotland, 1891, Tenth decennial census of the population of Scotland taken 5th April 1891, with report. Vol. I. BPP 1892 XCIV 1- [C.6755].

Census of Scotland, 1891, Tenth decennial census of the population of Scotland taken 5th April 1891. Supplement to vol. I. Showing the effect of the orders of the Boundary Commissioners appointed under the provisions of the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1889 (52 and 53 Vict. c. 50, sections 44 to 50), as regards the population, &c., of the counties and parishes in Scotland. With report. BPP 1893 - 94 CVII 65- [C.6936].

Census of Scotland, 1891, Tenth decennial census of the population of Scotland taken 5th April 1891, with report. Vol. II. Part I. BPP 1893 - 94 CVII 215- [C.6937].

Census of Scotland, 1891, Tenth decennial census of the population of Scotland taken 5th April 1891, with report. Vol. II. Part II. BPP 1893 - 94 CVIII 1- [C.7134].

1891 Census Publications: Islands in the British Seas

Census of England and Wales, 1891, Preliminary report, and tables of the population and houses enumerated in England and Wales, and in the islands in the British Seas, on 6th April 1891. BPP 1890 – 91 XCIV 1- [C.6422].

Census 1891, Islands in the British seas. Isle of Man. Jersey. Guernsey and adjacent islands. BPP 1893 – 84 CVII 1- [C.7133].