1901 Census

This page covers the 1901 census for England and Wales. The census was taken the night of Sunday 31 March 1901.

What does it contain?
How do I find my ancestor?
How do I find a place?
What places are missing?

What does it contain?

The information you will find is as follows:

Address
Whether inhabited or not
Number of rooms if less than five
Name
Relation to head of family
Whether single, married or widowed
Age
Sex
Profession or occupation
Employer, worker or own account
Whether working at home
Where born
Whether deaf-and dumb, blind, a lunatic, or an imbecile or feeble-minded
Language spoken – asked in Wales

How do I find my ancestor?

There’s a free index at ancestry.co.uk, and at The National Archives’ site at www.1901censusonline.com. But don’t just rely on the index. You really must consult the enumerator’s original return.

Tip
Both these indexes have different search options. In addition, both were transcribed by different people. If you can’t find someone in one index, try the other.

If you can’t find the person you are interested in, you can try browsing the actual census returns for the place you think they were living.

How do I find a place?

The reference used by the National Archives for the 1901 census is RG13 (RG 13). If you would like to find the reference for a particular place, search The National Archives’ catalogue for the 1901 census. Set the year range to 1901-1901. Type in RG13 as the series code. Then enter the place name.

What places are missing?

I'm not aware of any places being missing in the 1901 census.