The 1921 Census

The 1921 Census

The 1921 Census for England, Wales and Scotland was taken on the night of Sunday 19th June 1921.

It had been originally planned that the census would be taken on the night of 24th April 1921 but this was delayed because of strikes.

Extra questions asked over the 1911 Census included:

• whether a marriage has been dissolved by divorce
• where each person works
• the industry within which someone works

The question introduced in 1911 about the number of children was dropped, the reason given was that the results from the previous census had not yet been tabulated. Also the question about blindness, deafness or dumbness were removed on the grounds that the parents had objected to giving this information about their children with the result that answers given in the previous census were unreliable.

There are more details on our sister site, www.1921census.org.uk.

There was no 1921 Census of Ireland The next census both for the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland, which remained part of the United Kingdom, was taken in 1926. In Northern Ireland, the census was taken on the night of 18/19 April 1926 with the police used as enumerators. The census for The Irish Free State was taken on the same night.

There are more details here.

Accessing the 1921 Census .... why was the 1921 Census not released before January 2022?

The ruling by the Information Commissioner that resulted in the 1911 Census for England and Wales being opened early did not apply to the 1921 Census because, unlike the 1911 Census, the 1921 Census was conducted under the 1920 Census Act, which is still in force and which contains a statutory prohibition on disclosure.

The stated government position from the ONS was that "its intention to release the entirety of the 1921 Census returns in 2022, in accordance with the non-statutory '100 year rule' which was adopted to reflect this undertaking of confidentiality" and despite numerous protestations and challenges, the Government stuck firmly to the 100 year rule.

In 2019, following a tendering process, Findmypast were selected as The National Archives' commercial partner to make the 1921 Census of England & Wales available online and this happened on 6th January 2022.

If you have a Findmypast Premium Subscription you can search and view all the records as part of your subscription.

Otherwise, searching the 1921 Census is free on Findmypast but there is a charge using their new "micropayments" system of £2.50 for every record transcript and £3.50 for every original record image viewed (although there is a 10% discount for 12-month Plus subscribers).

You can view the digital images of the 1921 Census of England and Wales for free on the premises at the National Archives at Kew, at Manchester Central Library and at the National Library of Wales. It is also available in some libraries and record offices - check your local council to see if they offer this. Original census documents are not available in the National Archives reading rooms and there are no plans to produce microfiche.

The 1921 Census available at Findmypast also includes the 1921 Census for the Channel Islands and the 1921 census for the Isle of Man.

Again, there are more details on our sister site, www.1921census.org.uk, including a number of suggested alternative sources of information.