1911Census.org.uk

Accessing the 1911 Census

Go directly to the official online 1911 census site.

The 1911 census site is now officially launched and now covers all English and Welsh counties, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands - for more details see below.

Starting in the middle of 2007, Findmypast have scanned and indexed the 1911 census for England and Wales (including the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands). After three months of testing and trialling their website to various groups of people, the site was officially launched on 13th January 2009.

The site allows a free person search and returns of matching entries - see the side panel for details. Assuming you've found the person you are after you can then choose to view either the transcription for the entire household or view the scan of the original schedule completed by the head of the household. There is a charge for this, pay per view, of 10 credits to view the transcription and 30 to view the original schedule. Credits cost between just under 9p and 12p depending on how many are bought at a time which means viewing a transcript will cost roughly 90p to £1.20 and viewing the schedule will cost roughly £2.70 to £3.60. Not all information is included in the transcript. For example the information against married women of the number of children in the current marriage can only be seen if you view the original schedule.

Free access to the 1911 Census

As an alternative, you can access the 1911 census, including viewing the transcripts and schedules, for free at the National Archives in Kew. There is more information here in a leaflet published on Census Returns on the National Archives website.

In addition the National Archives announced at the end of July 2009 that the 1911 census would be available for free at seven more archives and libraries around England and Wales, that is Aberystwyth, Birmingham, Exeter, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich and Nottingham. The National Archives funded a limited number of credits to enable these archives to provide free access for a limited time. However in some of the centres this proved to be very popular and the credits have been used. Free access is no longer available in Newcastle and Nottingham, for other centres check here for further details..

Taking out a Subscription to the 1911 Census

The subscription package for viewing the 1911 Census is now available from Findmypast.

A standalone subscription to the 1911 census costs £59.95 for 12 months or £39.95 for six months.

Alternatively you can buy the Explorer and 1911 Census subscriptions together at a price of £149.90 for 12 months or £94.90 for 6 months.

However there currently is a special offer that gives 10% off of all subscriptions.
This offer runs until 14th April 2010 but its worth trying after that date as websites often (deliberately or accidentally) leave offers open for a few days after it officially expires. To receive the 10% discount off FindMyPast subscriptions, click here and use the promotional code mypast0410.
When you get to the page where you choose your subscription type you should enter this code mypast0410 in the "Promotional Code" box and then click "Apply" .
If you miss this offer, there is a 5% discount available with the code NDX24SUB.

Existing findmypast.co.uk subscribers can upgrade to the new combined subscription using their loyalty discount (currently 20%) at any time before your subscription expires.

There are more details on the official online 1911 census site.

Buying Pay per View credits for the 1911 Census

Initially, transcriptions and schedules could only be viewed using "PayAsYouGo" credits. You can get to their website and buy credits via this link.

You can use your Findmypast username and password and use any Findmypast credits across both sites, the existing site and the new 1911 census site.

Searching

The personal details that can be searched on cover more information than is displayed in the results. This enables some more information to be gleaned without having to pay by refining the search, for example to discover if someone was head of the household or to find other household members with the same surname. To explain, the search for Winston Churchill gives nineteen entries one of which is the one you're interested in (Winston Spencer born about 1875), then if you then repeat the search but also specify "Relationship to Head of Household" as "Head" then if the same entry appears this time, you know that he was Head of the Household - if he does not appear that it must be something else (by the way, he was). If you repeat the search with the following information from the previous search result, last name Churchill, county London, district St George and Other members first name Winston with all other fields empty, up will come the entries for Clementine, age 26, and Sarah, age 1.

There is more information on making the best use of the search on this page.

Coverage of the online 1911 Census

Findmypast have been scanning and indexing the 1911 census across England and Wales in the order of the National Archives catalogue number, basically starting in London, moving outwards and upwards through the English counties, then the Welsh counties, and finally the islands and military establishments.

This is now complete; the promise to make the East and North Ridings of Yorkshire and also Durham available during March was met on March 17th and the remaining three English counties, Cumberland, Northumberland and Westmorland, came online on April 7th. All of Wales became available in one go on June 9th and the final part covering the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, the Royal Navy and Overseas Military Establishments became available on June 18th 2009.

The counties covered are the English counties, that is Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Cornwall, Cumberland, Derbyshire, Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Durham, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, London, Middlesex, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Rutlandshire, Shropshire, Somersetshire, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex, Westmorland, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, Worcestershire, Yorkshire East Riding, Yorkshire North Riding and Yorkshire West Riding and the Welsh counties, that is Anglesey, Brecknockshire, Carnarvonshire, Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Glamorgan, Merionethshire, Montgomeryshire, Monmouthshire, Pembrokeshire and Radnorshire, and lastly the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, the Royal Navy and Overseas Military Establishments.

The missing information from two volumes covering parts of the Knaresborough and Doncaster areas in Yorkshire West Riding, each affecting about 1500 individuals, was made available on March 18th.

There are some missing or damaged volumes. Details are here.

We always welcome any comments, suggestions or corrections - you can contact us at the feedback email address on the left or (publicly) using the message board