ORKNEY-L Archives

Archiver > ORKNEY > 2000-08 > 0967579304


From: "Dave Annal" <>
Subject: Re: [ORKNEY] Re: dates of censuses
Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2000 21:01:44 +0100


Just a bit more about British Census returns.

The forms (or householder's schedules) were delivered to the houses in his
district by the census enumerator in the days leading up to census night.
The householder was instructed to complete the form by giving details about
the people who slept in his house on the specified night. The night of the
census was always a Sunday since it was thought to be more likely that the
majority of people would be at home then than on any other night.

Each enumerator had a predefined area to cover which constituted an
enumeration district. Starting on the Monday after the census night, the
enumerator would then go around the houses in his enumeration district
collecting the forms. If the householder was unable to read or write then
the enumerator would ask them the questions and write in the answers
himself.

Once he had collected all the forms he would then transfer the details onto
the enumerator's schedules. These forms were then sent to London (for
England and Wales) and Edinburgh (Scotland) where the returns were analysed
by the relevant Registrar General's office. It is these forms which have
survived and which we can now see on microfilm.

The census returns for 1801, 1811, 1821 and 1831 were not kept by the
Registrar General's offices and were largely headcounts rather than
detailed census returns. We are very fortunate that some of the returns for
Orkney in 1821 have survived - I don't know what form the others are in but
I do know that the original 1821 returns for South Ronaldsay and Burray are
in a notebook in the possession of my cousin Alexander (Sandy) Annal.

Hope this of some interest to you.

Dave Annal (Watford, England)

This thread: