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Norfolk Census
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Censuses are very useful for genealogy, because they give people's names, show their families, where they lived, etc. This page provides information about what is available for Norfolk.
Some census from before 1841 survive and are listed below. Generally those taken every 10 years starting in 1841 and covering the whole of the England and Wales are the most useful. These become available to the public once a hundred years have passed. For a description of the information contained in each census from 1841 (including the Ecclesiastical Census of 1851) see the examples page. More details and articles on the census can be found on the main Genuki census pages.
Where are they? Online indexes |
Finding an address Strays |
Population and Land Area Publications |
Years Available
Pre 1841 1841 |
1851 1861 |
1871 1881 |
1891 1901 |
1911 Post 1911 |
These pages are for personal use only. They may not be copied, and the links within them may not be harvested for use on your own web pages. Please see the Copyright Notice.
Copyright © Mike Bristow.
April 2016
Where are they?
The following refers specifically to location of the Norfolk census.
- In Norfolk these can be found at -
- Local Studies Libraries such as :-
Norfolk Heritage Centre (follow links to Leisure and Culture and then Local History and Heritage) based at the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library at the Forum in Norwich which has complete coverage. Their web site has links to other libraries in the county. - Family History Society Libraries eg. NFHS Kirby Hall
- LDS Family History Centres eg. Eaton, Norwich.
- Note that not all of the above have complete county coverage to 1891.
- Local Studies Libraries such as :-
- Elsewhere in the country
- The National Archives (TNA) (originally called the PRO) at Kew holds copies for the whole country.
- LDS FHC's can order ones they do not have on their shelves.
- Individual Places
- Some have been printed or transcriptions done and one should check the places pages.
Online indexes
- FreeCEN project (covers the whole country)
- FreeCEN is a project to transcribe the UK census returns, and put them online in a free searchable database. It needs volunteers for Norfolk.
- Volunteer here to help with this project currently covering the 1841, 1861, 1871 and 1891 census.
- All known Norfolk census from before 1841 are listed and transcriptions are provided for most.
- The Norfolk Transcription Archive contains many census entries.
- The 1881 British Isles census is available via the LDS website. Follow the links (Location/United Kingdom and Ireland/England and Wales Census 1881).
- Much of the 1891 census has a name index.
- The 1901 census is available from the National Archives website.
- There are also sites where one can pay to view census entries eg. Ancestry.
Finding an address
Each census has an index using the town or parish name as the key. This directs one to the correct point on the media (film/fiche usually) on which the census is held. Those towns known to have street indexes available (please advise me of any others which are missing) are indicated under the years topic. The layout of the enumeration districts 1851 to 1891 is based on Registration districts so adjacent parishes do not always lie next to one another on the film/fiche etc.
If the Registration District(RD) is not known then a useful finding aid is Register of towns indexed by streets for the 1841-1881 census of England and Wales (LDS 6026692)
Strays
Strays are people born in a county who are elsewhere at the time of the census. Lists and some indexes are given below (for persons born in Norfolk) where known :-
- An online list of Strays from Norfolk (mainly 1851) used to be on the site maintained by Ron Taylor (anyone know where it has moved to?). These UK Census finding aids and Indexes are worth visiting. This site will have a countrywide strays index for 1851 eventually.
- NFHS Kirby Hall Library has some collections - see their Holdings list.
- Edmonds, Jenifer A. and Perkins, John
Born in Norfolk or Suffolk : a collection of 1851 census strays from Kensington & Hull
[J.A. Edmonds, 1989] - Edmonds, Jenifer A.
Born in Norfolk or Suffolk : a collection of 1851 census strays from Westminster, St George Hanover Square, Marylebone etc.
[J.A. Edmonds]
Population and Land Area
When each census is taken other statistics are produced and the following table shows some of these. The area of the county is given in acres and this varies as land is reclaimed from or lost to the sea and county boundaries are changed.
The tables indicate a population increase of over 60% during the 50 years between 1801 and 1851. This was followed by a 30 year period until 1881 in which it remained fairly static, after which it resumed its yearly increase, except for 1931. The number of females has always been greater than the number of males.
Year | Area (Acres) |
Total Population |
Males | Females |
---|---|---|---|---|
1801 | Unavailable | 273,371 | 129,842 | 143,529 |
1811 | Unavailable | 291,947 | 138,063 | 153,884 |
1821 | Unavailable | 344,368 | 166,892 | 177,476 |
1831 | 1,292,300 | 390,054 | 189,323 | 200,731 |
1841 | 1,292,300 | 412,664 | 199,101 | 213,563 |
1851 | 1,354,301 | 442,714 | 215,254 | 227,460 |
1861 | 1,354,301 | 434,798 | 209,005 | 225,793 |
1871 | 1,356,173 | 438,656 | 210,999 | 227,657 |
1881 | 1,356,173 | 444,749 | 215,266 | 229,483 |
1891 | 1,315,092 | 468,287 | 225,652 | 242,635 |
1901 | 1,314,612 | 476,553 | 228,429 | 248,124 |
1911 | 1,315,064 | 499,116 | 241,159 | 257,957 |
1921 | 1,315,064 | 504,293 | 239,697 | 264,596 |
1931 | 1,315,064 | 504,940 | 243,536 | 261,404 |
1951 | 1,314,332 | 548,062 | 272,060 | 276,002 |
1961 | 1,314,332 | 561,071 | 274,356 | 286,715 |
1971 | 1,314,186 | 617,616 | 300,595 | 317,021 |
1981 | 1,326,374 | 694,566 | 337,615 | 356,951 |
1991 | 1,327,505 | 745,613 | 363,038 | 382,575 |
2001 | 1,327,174 | 796,728 | 387,827 | 408,901 |
Years available.
- Pre 1841:
- A number of censuses and similar lists were taken before 1841 for military, taxation, religious, voting and population statistical purposes and the reader should not overlook these topics on the Norfolk welcome page.
- 1841:
- Taken on the night of June 6th.
- PRO Class Reference: HO 107/753-794
- Indexes to Norwich(RD234) Parishes, not streets, are available (typescript at Norfolk Studies Library).
- CDs containing the original enumerator's images (Census Registration Districts) are available from :-
- Archive CD Books [Cinderford: CD C1841NFK]
- S & N Genealogy
- Online versions (images, transcription and index) are also available at :-
- 1851:
- Taken on the night of March 30th .
- PRO Class Reference: HO 107/1806-1832
- The whole county has been put onto a CDROM which can be purchased (it actually contains Norfolk, Devon and Warwickshire). This transcription produced by the LDS is fully searchable.
- A complete transcript has been done by the LDS and is available at many FHS's. Each has a different coloured band at the top of the fiche as indicated -[in brackets following] (optionally followed by LDS catalogue no.).
This comprises 5 indexes:-- Alphabetical by surname, then christian name -[Pink](6115160).
- Alphabetical by surname,then place of birth -[Green](6115161).
- Alphabetical by surname,then by enumeration place -[Orange](6115162).
- Numerically by Enumeration District -[Yellow](6115163).
- Miscellaneous Notes (Unknown place of birth etc.)(6115164) /List of Institutions (Workhouses/Asylum's etc)(6115165) - [Brown]. There are NO separate Ships as per 1881.
- Street Indexes are available for Norwich(RD234) and Kings Lynn(RD246) (typescript at Norfolk Studies Library).
- A transcription of 2% of the 1851 census, containing 500,000 names, also exists for the whole country and the originals are with the ESRC (Economic & Social Research Council) at Essex. A CDROM and search engine called "2% UK 1851 Census viewer and mapper" have been produced commercially. The Norfolk sections (although not those living outside but born in the county ie. strays) have been made nearly obsolete by the indexed transcriptions on CD.
- CDs containing the original enumerator's images (Census Registration Districts) are available from :-
- Online versions (images, transcription and index) are also available at :-
- 1861:
- Taken on the night of April 7th.
- PRO Class Reference: RG 9/1190-1267
- Street Indexes are available for Norwich(RD234) and Great Yarmouth (RD228) (typescript at Norfolk Studies Library).
- Places in Norfolk that appear in Cambridgeshire Registration Districts (page images on CD) is also due to be available in the future. [Cinderford: Archive CD Books, CD C1861NFK-S1]
- Images, transcription and index online via the National Archives.
- Full transcription and index online. See FreeCEN coverage and FreeCEN search.
- CDs containing the original enumerator's images (Census Registration Districts) are available from :-
- Archive CD Books [Cinderford: CD C1861NFK]
- S & N Genealogy
- Online versions (images, transcription and index) are also available at :-
- 1871:
- Taken on the night of April 2nd.
- PRO Class Reference: RG 10/1784-1875
- Street Indexes are available for Norwich(RD225) and Great Yarmouth (RD219) (typescript at Norfolk Studies Library).
- Images, transcription and index online via the National Archives.
- Full transcription and index online. See FreeCEN coverage and FreeCEN search.
- CDs containing the original enumerator's images (Census Registration Districts) are available from :-
- Archive CD Books [Cinderford: CD C1871NFK]
- S & N Genealogy This company also produce a separate CD containing an index to Great Yarmouth.
- A Norfolk street index CD has been available.
- Online versions (images, transcription and index) are also available at :-
- 1881:
- Taken on the night of April 3rd.
- PRO Class Reference: RG 11
- The whole country has been put onto a CDROM which can be purchased. Follow the links (Order/Software/Census) here for further details on its availability and usage (including worldwide distribution centres). See next entry for same version which is online.
- Transcription and index online via Family Search. Follow the links (Location/United Kingdom and Ireland/England and Wales Census 1881). See also previous entry if you wish to purchase this version on CDROM.
- A complete transcript and index on fiche has been done by the FFHS, SAFHS and LDS. This comprises 5 indexes:-
- Alphabetical by surname, then christian name -[Pink].
- Alphabetical by surname,then place of birth -[Green].
- Alphabetical by surname,then by enumeration place -[Orange].
- Numerically by Enumeration District -[Yellow].
- Miscellaneous Notes (Unknown place of birth etc.) /List of Institutions - (c.30 Workhouses/Asylum's etc) and a List of Vessels/Ships in port -[Brown].
- Street Indexes are available for Norwich(RD225) (typescript at Norfolk Studies Library).
- Images, transcription and index online via the National Archives.
- Online versions (images, transcription and index) are also available at :-
- 1891:
- Taken on the night of April 5th.
- PRO Class Reference: RG 12/1498-1578
- Street Indexes are available for Norwich(RD225) (typescript at Norfolk Studies Library).
- The National Archives transcription of the 1891 Norfolk Census went online in 2001 for a few months. This was a pilot for the national 1901 online transcription. This is currently offline at present and we are hoping it will re-appear at a later date.
- There was a Genuki/Norfolk project to create a surname index to the Norfolk 1891 census. This is still running, despite the National Archives project (see above) and much of the county has had surnames lists produced which are online. See the Lists of Surnames from the 1891 Norfolk Census (this is a link to an archived copy).
- If you wish to order fiche through LDS Centres, you can search for LDS reference numbers in the Genuki 1891 Census Places page.
It returns "County District Sub-District Place PRO_code-piece_number LDS_Film_No" eg. for ACLE it gives "Norfolk Blofield South Walsham Acle RG12-1539 6096649".
Note this does not include every small village. - Images, transcription and index online via the National Archives.
- Partial transcription and index online. See FreeCEN coverage and FreeCEN search. Some Norfolk parishes in the west of the county near Wisbech are to be found in the FreeCEN project for Cambridgeshire.
- CDs containing the original enumerator's images (Census Registration Districts) are available from :-
- Online versions (images, transcription and index) are also available at :-
- 1901:
- Taken on the night of 31st Mar 1901.
- PRO Class Reference: RG 13/1809-1902
- Available online at the National Archives (PRO) website. See the National Archives (PRO) website for online access details and check out the Service Centres, Site Tours and help pages which will make your searches easier.
- Available on fiche at Norwich Local Studies Library but no street indexes are available.
- Many other libraries are purchasing fiche copies of their areas and one needs to check locally.
- There is also a List of the Institutions which contains their official title and RG reference etc. Following the links for Norfolk shows that Norfolk County Asylum is RG 13 1810 f139-161 etc. [Note file covers whole country and is large 500+Kb but does not contain surnames]
- CDs containing the original enumerator's images (Census Registration Districts) are available from :-
- Online versions (images, transcription and index) are also available at :-
- 1911:
- Taken on the night of 2nd April 1911.
- PRO Class Reference: RG 14 & RG78
- See the National Archives website. Search for "1911 Census"
- Online access is available via the 1911 census site ("Findmypast" the appointed agents of the The National Archives [TNA]). Basic searches are free but only provide limited information.
- Online versions (images, transcription and index) are also available at :-
- Post 1911:
- 19th June 1921 - Scheduled publication date 1st January 2022.
- 26th April 1931 - England and Wales Census destroyed by fire in WWII.
- 1939 Register (29th Sept) - This was not a full census but for England and Wales was a register of the civilian population - see National Archives for more details including access.
- 1941 not taken due to war.
- 8th April 1951 and then every ten years.
Publications
Norfolk
- Ede, Janet and Virgoe, Norma
- Religious Worship in Norfolk
The 1851 Census of Accomodation and Attendance at Worship
[ISBN:0951160087, Norfolk Record Society, 1998]
General
- Lumas, Susan.
- Making Use of the Census
[ISBN:1 873162 05 7, PRO Publications, 1992] - Lumas, Susan.
- An Introduction to...The Census Returns of England and Wales
[FFHS, 1992] - Gibson, J.S.W.
- Census Returns 1841-1881 on Microfilm, A Directory to Local Holdings
[FFHS, 5th ed. 1990] - Gibson, J.S. and Hampson, E.
- Marriage, Census and other indexes for Family Historians
[ISBN:1872094 43 0, 4th ed. 1992] - Higgs, Edward.J.
- A Clearer Sense of the Census
[ISBN:0114402191, HMSO, 1996] - Bryant Rosier, M.E.
- Index to Census Registration Districts
[FFHS, 1990]
Notes
- The CDs of Census images normally only contain indexes to the places contained on each.