Some Census Terms and Abbreviations:

In practice, the head of the household is usually the oldest male. Everyone else, whether wife, son, servant or anyone else, should be described in relation to this person.

This convention is not always followed accurately. Sometimes young children may be shown as ‘son’ or ‘dau’ (daughter) when they are really the grandchildren of the head.

Son or daughter-in-law can also mean a stepchild, as well as the husband or wife of the head’s own children.

Boarder = not a relative.

Lodger = rents a room.

Vis = visitor who is not a relative.

Mar or M = married.

Unm, Un, U or S = unmarried or single.

Wid or W = widowed.

There are some other common terms and abbreviations.

Ag lab = agricultural labourer.

Annuitant = living on income from investments.

Ap or App = apprentice.

FS, MS = used in the 1841 census for female servant and male servant.

Gentleman = denotes someone living on an income from investments or retired from business, but has no official definition.

Ind or Independent = of independent means.

J or Journeyman = someone who had completed an apprenticeship but is not a master with a business and apprentices of their own.

Pensioner – usually means an army, navy or police pensioner. 

Old age pensions were introduced in 1908, so the term ‘old age pensioner’ appears for the first time in 1911.

Census A Brief History In Time:

Full censuses have taken place in the different jurisdictions of the United Kingdom every ten years since 1801, with the exceptions of 1941 (during the Second World War) and Ireland in 1921. Censuses were taken in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, with the returns being archived with those of England.

In addition to providing detailed information about national demographics, the results of the census play an important part in the calculation of resource allocation to regional and local service providers by the government of the UK.

The first four censuses (1801–1831) were mainly statistical in nature. Whilst usable by genealogists the information is quite sparse. They were recorded by way of conducting a head count, with virtually no personal information. A small number of older records exist in local record offices as by-products of the notes made by enumerators in the production of those earlier censuses. These might list all persons or just the heads of households. The 1841 Census was the first to intentionally record names of all individuals in a household or institution.

Because of the disruption caused by the Second World War, there was no census conducted in 1941. However, following the passage into law on 5 September 1939 of the National Registration Act 1939, a population count was carried out on 29 September 1939. The resulting National Register was later used to develop the NHS Central Register. Censuses were taken on 26 April 1931 in Great Britain, but the returns for England and Wales were destroyed in an accidental fire during the Second World War.

The 1851 census included a question about religion on a separate response sheet, whose completion was not compulsory. But the 2001 census was the first in which the government asked about religion on the main census form. New legislation was enacted through the Census (Amendment) Act 2000 to allow the question to be asked, and to make its response optional.

The Jedi census phenomenon is a grass roots movement that was initiated in 2001 for residents of a number of English-speaking countries, urging them to record their religion as "Jedi" or "Jedi Knight" (after the quasi-religious order of Jedi Knights in the fictional Star Wars universe) on the national census.

Encouraged by a chain letter that started in New Zealand, 390,000 people entered their religion as "Jedi Knight", with some areas registering up to 2.6% of people as Jedi. Thus, "Jedi" was the fourth-largest reported religion in the country. Your scribe also registered as a Jedi and a number of my friends did the same.

Types Of Genealogical Records:

There is an old saying which is sometimes used to describe life in general terms. 'Hatch, Match and Dispatch.' Those words equally describe some of the public records such as Records of Civil Registration (Births, Marriages and Deaths) that are available on-line.

Looking at the 'Hatch,' in this case it would be the public Register of Births. You can order up copies of birth certificates which give additional information beyond what is available in the on-line registers In addition there are also 'Church Baptismal Registers' which play and increasing importance prior to 1837. When the first official government registry began.

The 'Records of Civil Registration are a legal requirement in England and Wales, that commenced on the 1st of July 1837. These public records relate to the registers of birth, marriage and death of an individual. In Scotland records began in 1855 and in Ireland in 1864 Irish non-Catholic marriages were recorded from 1845.

Looking at the 'Match,' in this case it would be the public Register of Marriages. But there are also 'Church Marriage Registers' and in some cases there can also be records of marriage banns being read. which once again play an increasing importance prior to 1837.

Last of all, is the 'Despatch.' in this case it would be the public Register of Deaths. But there are also 'Church Burial Registers' which once again play an increasing importance prior to 1837.

For the Records of Civil Registration official certificates can also be obtained. Which includes divorce papers.

The Next form of public records are the “Census Returns.” Again most have been microfilmed and digitised. The census is a head count of everyone in the country on a given day. A census has been taken in England and Wales, and separately for Scotland, every ten years since 1801, with the exception of 1941.

The Census returns contain a rich source of additional information on relationships to the head of the family. Such as place of birth and an approximate age. They also contain street addresses and some basic information on individuals employment.

My Own Introduction To Genealogy:

I can't remember exactly when I first took more than a passing interest in my family tree. Like most kids, I had from time to time spoken to my parents about family members, from both my mothers and fathers sides of the family. 

They often mentioned various names of people that I did not know and recanted vague memories of the odd interesting event. There was even a rumour of the existence of a family bible which was supposed to contain names and dates. But for various reasons, apart from making some mental notes, I did not actively pursue learning about my families relationships.

From time to time things would happen. Such as when my grandmothers sister appeared in the local newspaper celebrating her one hundredth birthday. My mother actually thought that she had died many years before. 

This time my interest was piqued and I went to meet her. She had a very good memory and was full of lots of anecdotal information. The main one being that she never got along with my maternal grandfather. However, as was the norm in those days she did not want to talk about the reason for her dislike. However, she provided me with a potted history of her own and my grandmothers early life.

On another occasion I was triggered into doing a bit more research, by a friends throw away remark about his dog having a longer pedigree than his own. Its true, we do seem to take much more of an interest in our pets dogs pedigree, than we care to do about our own.

Much later, I started to take much more of an interest and I spent many hours in various local public records offices. Also visiting and joining local family history groups. I even did a course at Sheffield University on local history. But I did enjoy researching and delving into official documents and records.

Now there are other programs on television such as the BBC's 'Who do You Think You Are' where a celebrities family history is explored in an hour-long program. However, siting and watching someone trawl through on and off-line genealogical records would be very boring. So there is always, plenty of travel and arranged meetings with people who are specialist in a given historical context. 

Over the years since I first started, much has changed. Many of the public paper records have now been microfilmed and have since been digitised. Now many of the more important documents written in Secretary Hand have now been transcribed into modern more readable character sets.

Now you can do a great deal of family history research on-line from your arm chair using a computer. There is no need to travel around the country visiting public records offices. Though it is still interesting to go and look at the streets and sometimes even the buildings where your ancestors lived. However, today the on-line digital world now has Google maps which will let you look on-line at street level. Though you can also consult recently digitised maps which were drawn at the time period of interest.

Later....