AN ONLINE census provides access to records of 895,328 people living in Cheshire in 1911.
Some 36 million people were recorded in the census taken on the night of Sunday, April 2, 1911.
After nearly 100 years, these records are available to the public at www.1911census.co.uk.
The census covered England, Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, as well as recording those aboard Royal Naval and Merchant vessels at sea and in foreign ports.
It is the most detailed census since UK records began and the first for which the original census schedules have been preserved – complete with our ancestors’ own handwriting – providing a fascinating insight into British society nearly a century ago.
More than 27 million people’s census entries – 80 per cent of the English records – are available including records of the 895,328 people living in Cheshire in 1911.
A further nine million records of people will be made available over the coming months.Š
Public demand for the 1911 census, which will be a key resource for family historians, has resulted in the records being released earlier than the scheduled 2012 date.
To make this early online release to the public possible, the 1911 census team worked around the clock for two years – scanning on average one census page per second. In line with data protection legislation, certain sensitive information relating to infirmity and to children of women prisoners will be held back until 2012.
Comprehensive and rigorously tested, the www.1911census.co.uk website has been developed by UK-based family history website findmypast.com, owned by brightsolid, in association with The National Archives.
The 1911 census is huge – occupying more than two kilometres of shelving – an incredible eight million paper census returns have been transcribed to create over 16 million digital images.
The census records show the name, age, place of birth, marital status and occupation of every resident in every home.
Log on to www.1911census.co.uk and register for free
Search for an ancestor in 1911 by entering their name
If the name is common you can enter their approximate year of birth, which will help to narrow down the results
Search for an address to look up the history of your house or an ancestor’s address in 1911 (this function will be available in summer 2009)
Pay as you go to view each record. You will be charged 10 credits per transcript and 30 credits for each original household page. Visitors to the website can buy 60 credits for £6.95.
