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What is in the 1911 census?
In common with the censuses that preceded it, it recorded the following information:
- Where an individual lived
- Their age at the time of the census
- Who (what relatives) they were living with
- Their place of birth
- Occupation
- Details of any guests on the night of the census
- Details of any servants they had
Also, depending on an individual's circumstances, additional information could include:
- Whether they were an employee or employer
- Precise details of the industry or service they worked in
- Details of nationality
- Duration of their current marriage
- Number of children born to that marriage
- Number of children still living, and the number who had died
- Details of any illnesses or conditions each family member had, and the date these began
Fertility in marriage and occupational data
In response to government concerns the 1911 census also asked additional, more specific questions to each household, about fertility in marriage and occupational data.
The 1911 census and the suffragettes
Frustrated with the government's refusal to grant women the vote, a large number of women boycotted the 1911 census by refusing to be counted. There were two forms of protest. In the first, the women (or their husbands) refused to fill in the form, often recording their protest on the household schedule. In the second, women evaded the census by staying away from their home for the whole night, and so did not lodge their protest on the household schedule. In both cases, any details relating to individual women in the households will be missing from the census. For the family historian, a refusal to fill in the form (accompanied by a protest statement) at least registers the presence of a woman, or women, in the household. But the women who evaded the count by leaving their home for the night are entirely untraceable via the census. The exact number of women who boycotted the census is not known, though some people have estimated that it may be as many as several thousand.
DC Thomson Family History service provided to MyHeritage members by agreement with The National Archives, London. |
