Find your ancestors in 1861 England, Wales & Scotland Census

The 1861 England, Wales & Scotland Census was taken on the night of 7 April 1861 and gave the total population as 23,085,579.

Searching the 1861 England, Wales & Scotland Census

The golden rule of family history is to check the original historical record, or ‘primary source’, wherever possible. We have provided clear images of the original census enumeration books for you to view once you’ve found the right family in the indexes.

When using census returns you should first search the transcriptions to help locate your ancestor in the census, and then view the original images to validate your findings. It will also help you see the household in the context of surrounding households.

This is particularly important as transcribing an entire census is a huge and difficult task, and whilst we have used the expertise of our transcribers and the experience of key representatives from the genealogy community to help us translate the records, it is inevitable that there will be some errors.

Note: the census includes details of people resident in docked vessels and institutions such as prisons, workhouses, hospitals, and barracks, as well as individual households.

What can you find in the 1861 census?

Census returns can not only help us determine who our ancestors were, but they can also tell us:

• Where your ancestors were living
• Who they were living with
• What their occupations were
• If they had any servants
• Who their neighbours were
• If they had any brothers and sisters
• What their ages were at the time of the census
• If they had any disabilities.

As well as giving us the above information, the fact that census returns are taken every ten years also allows us to track the movements of our ancestors through time as they perhaps move house, get married, have children or even change occupations.

The fields which have been transcribed for the 1861 England, Wales & Scotland Census on findmypast are:

• First name
• Middle name
• Last name
• Sex
• Marriage condition
• Occupation
• Birth place
• Age
• Place of residence
• County
• Relationship to head of household

Known Issues in the 1861 England, Wales & Scotland Census

Having trouble finding a man aged 14-18 years or older in the 1861 England, Wales & Scotland Census? He could have been in the army and you may find him in the 1861 Worldwide Army Index. The Index is extensive and lists nearly a quarter of a million men, the majority of these serving overseas.

Missing pieces of the 1861 England, Wales & Scotland Census

There are a number of enumeration books missing, or parts of enumeration books (usually missing start or finish), from the 1861 England, Wales & Scotland Census. Below is a list of the books affected that we know of, both those missing in their entirety (M) and those which are incomplete (I) in the National Archives.