Historical and genealogical census resources

There are many resources, including commercial resources, for the study of population and family history. Some of these are open for the public to access free of charge, whilst others are only available by payment of fees, or restricted to those, usually academics, who can satisfy registration requirements. They also vary in the type of information available, some being more appropriate to family or genealogical investigation, others to historical population research.

As Census.ac.uk is concerned with access for UK academics to census data from 1971 onwards, it does not provide access to these historical or genealogical resources. This is therefore only a brief guide - a starting point - for further research into the available resources. It is not comprehensive and Census.ac.uk cannot vouch for this information or the appropriateness, quality or comprehensiveness of the services mentioned. Anyone intending to use these resources should investigate them thoroughly at the outset, before incurring any costs.

General

The National Archives provide free access to census records for England and Wales, Channel Islands and Isle of Man from 1841 through to 1901 at its site in Kew. These records can also be accessed online via ancestry.co.uk and 1901censusonline.com. Records for 1911 are available online from 1911census.co.uk.

Scotland’s People is the official government source of genealogical data for Scotland and includes historical census data.

FreeCEN is a genealogical search facility using census data from England, Wales and Scotland from 1841 through to 1891.

Genes Reunited also offers genealogical searching and family-tree building facilities.

A Vision of Britain Through Time provides detailed historical information on places in Britain between 1801 and 2001, including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.

The History Data Service provides access to a range of historical census, and census-related, resources. Histpop, a History Data Service Project, is the Online Historical Population Reports collection providing online access to the complete British population reports for Britain and Ireland from 1801 to 1937.

The Contemporary and Historical Census Collections (CHCC) comprise individual and aggregate-level historical census data and a wealth of introductory and explanatory information about censuses.

The National Archives of Ireland and National Library of Ireland hold a wide variety of records, many of which are relevant for Irish genealogy and local history. Both provide online access to many resources and also provide a free Genealogy Service where members of the public can consult a professional genealogist about sources relating to their family history. Both institutions are based in Dublin.

Familysearch is a search facility, sponsored by The Genealogical Society of Utah, containing United States, Canadian and British census data. They also offer a number of other census products.

The Historical Census Browser provides access to U.S. historical census data from 1790 to 1960, whilst NHGIS provides, free of charge, aggregate census data and GIS-compatible boundary files for the United States between 1790 and 2000.

The Central Statistics Office Ireland has reports containing historical census tables: Census Reports

Migration

There are two significant resources for historical migration information for the United Kingdom - ancestry.co.uk provides a migration search, and Moving Here provides a range of resources about migration to England in the past 200 years.