Editor's Note: This article is the second in a two-part series. Read Part 1.

To make the most of the census of Great Britain, you need to know what information it contains, how to apply this information, and facts about access. What follows is a concise guide to essential information (but the best teacher is practical experience).

Contents
Apart from minor differences in supplementary details, the census returns for 1851 through 1891 provide the following:

• Address or location
  
• Name of each person in the household
  
• Marital status
  
• Sex
  
• Relationship to the head of the household
  
• Age
  
• Occupation
  
• Birthplace

However, the first nominal census (1841) is different and less informative. Missing from these returns are relationships, accurate ages, and precise birthplace details. What they record is:

• Address or location
  
• Name of each person in the household
  
• Age rounded down to the nearest five years for adults (this confused people and compounded fibs)
  
• Exact age for children under 15
  
• Occupation
  
• A vague answer to the question "were you born in the county?" which in England meant noting Y (yes), N (no), S (Scotland), I (Ireland), Pts (foreign parts)

Several clues distinguish one household from another: hash marks made by the enumerators (when at the left edge of a name, a double backslash is a new building and a single one separates family units in the same building); 1851 and after, a new number in the extreme left column (No. of Householder's Schedule); 1851 and after, the appearance of the word "Head" in the Relationship column.

Use
Genealogists consult census returns for information about families—family members' relationships, ages and birthplaces in particular. The first census return comes four years after the start of civil registration in England and Wales (1 July 1837) and fourteen years before it starts in Scotland (1855), so it is obvious that census information (in particular, age and birthplace) can facilitate the search for certificates of birth, marriage and death. It follows that the converse is true, and that date and place information on a certificate lead to the census. Going back and forth between these two records—following ancestors through stages of their lives—is standard methodology.

Another obvious use of census returns is as a launch pad into church registers. If the information about age and birthplace has been tracked through two or three census returns and found consistent, then the transfer is that much easier. Where that information is inconsistent (there are examples of individuals giving, in four enumerations, four different places as a birthplace), then maps, gazetteers, and references to lists of parishes may sort it out; or it may be necessary to search in more than one place.

The clue to the place of origin of a family may not come directly from the ancestor and the immediate family. Others resident at the same address but of no recorded relationship—servants and apprentices in particular—may originate from the same region as the family’s previous generation.

Census information offers much more than basic genealogical facts. When the enumeration district is examined and further reference is made to maps, local history books, old photographs, or drawings, a vivid sense of the community and neighborhood can be recreated.

Challenge
Common names can be a problem. Selecting the proper connection will require additional information, such as occupation or names of others in the household (preferably someone with an unusual Christian name), as well as a pretty good idea of age and birthplace.

If you have problems with the spelling and pronunciation of a name, you can guess that the enumerators did too, which may mean that a name beginning with one letter is actually written with another. This may have something to do with handwriting or with speech. There are no quick answers for this, just imagination and careful searching, or a handy collateral relation who can be found.

If a place isn't there, the records may indeed be lost, but do not accept this explanation without some research. What sort of a place name is it? It may be too small to be an enumeration district. Perhaps you are using the name of an ecclesiastical parish rather than a civil parish. Reference to maps and gazetteers should sort this out. On the Web, try the alphabetical place name list for England at GENUKI. If you are in the midst of a search in the right area, read the enumerator's descriptions and the returns for the adjacent areas.

In cities, the street index references are an important aid; however, they refer to the piece numbers assigned by the PRO and are sometimes a challenge to match to LDS census film numbers. Map work may help, but there have been many street name changes—London and Glasgow are good examples. A Guide to Glasgow Addresses (S. Miller, Glasgow and West of Scotland FHS, 1993) and the two-volume Index to Abolished London Street Names found at the Family Records Centre in London are two possible routes to a solution.

The wise researcher is always willing to consider that the starting point is a fib, or only partly true. Searching for siblings and other relations is one alternative; another is to extend search boundaries of time and place. Other records, e.g., voter's lists, vital records, church records, or probate records, may add facts to help sort out the problem.

Sherry Irvine, FSA (Scot) has been researching her British ancestry for over thirty years. She founded Interlink Bookshop and Genealogical Services in 1988, and she currently lectures in Canada and the United States and is a past vice president of the Association of Professional Genealogists. Sherry is the author of Your Scottish Ancestry: A Guide for North Americans and Your English Ancestry: A Guide for North Americans.