1841 Scotland census

Ancestry.co.uk Monthly Newsletter - June 2006

Even before the launch of the English and Welsh 1841 censuses at the end of April, Ancestry had been working hard on further UK census releases.

In addition to the complete 1841 censuses for England and Wales, Ancestry members can now also enjoy access to the all important 1841 Scottish census.

With around 2.6 million index names, the Scots 1841 holds similar significance to its English and Welsh counterparts as the first of the modern day censuses for Scotland.

The census is currently available in a fully transcribed index form, enabling members to search by names as well as address and occupation for possibly the first time. Ancestry is also currently trying to work with the General Register Office for Scotland to enable posting of the accompanying census images.

the newsletter will keep you updated on progress in due course.

The 1841 Census for Scotland was taken on the night of 6 June 1841. The following information was requested:

• Place (name of village, street, square, close, etc.)
  
• Name of each person that had spent the night in that household
  
• Age*
  
• Sex (indicated by which column the age is recorded in)
  
• Profession or occupation
  
• Where born**
  

*The ages of people over 15 years old were usually rounded down to the nearest 5 years. Therefore, someone who was actually 24 years would have their age listed as 20, and someone who was actually 27 years old would have their age listed as 25. If people lied about their ages, or if their real ages were not known or reported correctly, the gap between the rounded age recorded on the census and their actual age may be quite significant.

**The "Where Born" column only asked two questions - 1) whether born in same county, and 2) whether Foreigner or whether born in England or Ireland. Possible answers and abbreviations to question #1 include: Yes (Y), No, (N), or Not Known (NK). For question #2, the following abbreviations were used: England/Wales (E), Ireland (I), and Foreign Parts (F).