Censuses have been taken in England and Wales every 10 years since 1801 with the exception of 1941. The 1801 - 1831 census returns only recorded
the name of the head of house and were really no more than a head count
and these records have long since been destroyed with very few exceptions.
Dates the Censuses were taken
| 1841 - | June 6 |
| 1851 - | March 30 |
| 1861 - | April 7 |
| 1871 - | April 2 |
| 1881 - | April 3 |
| 1891 - | April 5 |
| 1901 - | Mar 31 |
Enumeration forms were distributed to households a few days before the census night and the completed forms were collected the day after census night. All the entries were to reflect the status of people who had spent the census night in the household. These were then transcribed into enumerators books which are the records that are available to view today. The original household records were destroyed from 1841 - 1901 and can be seen for the first time in 1911.
Things to Consider
| Many households were illiterate and spelling mistakes are common on the returns. |
| Ages can contain errors as some people would genuinely not know how old they were or would lie for varying reasons. |
| On the 1841 census ages are rounded down to the nearest 5 years for people over 15 years. Somebody aged 29 would be marked as 25. |
| As the mortality rate was high especially in childbirth, remarriage was common and step children would often take the step fathers name. |
| | Places of birth can vary from census to census. You often find that the further a person is living from their birth place, the more general the entry. |
 | Completed Census Example |
These forms were then transcribed by the enumerator who themselves
would sometimes make further mistakes and many enumerators hand
writing leaves a lot to be desired to say the least. They also made
tally marks all over the forms which many times obscure information
especially the age column.
Thornton Through Time Transcriptions
The transcriptions on this website are a simplified version of the original returns although
all the information has been retained.
To avoid further 'interpretations' - we have transcribed the census returns as
they are written.
| Ref: | This column marks individual households and is not the house number |
| Address: | As marked |
| Name: | As marked |
Relation to Head of Family: | All relationships are to the head of the family and not the person above or below |
Marital Staus: | M / Mar = Married U = Unmarried S = Single W = Widow Widr = Widower |
| Sex: | As marked |
| Age: | As marked m = months |
| Occupation: | As marked |
| Place of Birth: | Usually County and town / village |
Disability: | Whether blind, deaf or dumb. We have not transcribed this data for privacy reasons |
Entries in italics mean the entry is difficult or impossible to read and the transcriber has entered the most likely option with the data available. Some entries are followed by [ ] which would be the transcribers other possible option. Both these entries should be treated with caution. |
We make no warranty whatsoever as to the accuracy and completeness of the Thornton Through Time transcriptions.
Reproduced with the permission of The National Archives