Census 1921
19 June 1921
General information
CountryUnited Kingdom

The United Kingdom Census 1921 was a census of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland that was carried out on 19 June 1921. It was postponed for two months from April due to industrial unrest and no census was taken in Ireland due to the Irish War of Independence. It was the first census in the UK to ask about place of work and industry, and whether a marriage had been dissolved by divorce.[1]

Enumeration

According to the preliminary general results of the census, the population of Great Britain on 19 June 1921 was[2]

Results for Great Britain
TerritoryPopulation
England Wales England and Wales37,886,699
Scotland Scotland4,882,497
Jersey Jersey49,701
Guernsey Guernsey and others40,519
Isle of Man Isle of Man60,284
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Great Britain (total)42,919,700

The census of Ireland was not taken until 1926, and the results were[2]

Results for Ireland
TerritoryPopulation
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland1,256,561
Irish Free State Irish Free State2,971,992
Kingdom of Ireland Ireland (total)4,228,553

In the 1911 census, the population of what was to become the Irish Free State had been counted as 3,139,688.[3]

Release

The census was conducted under the Census Act 1920, which prohibits disclosure for 100 years after the census was taken.[4]

On 27 February 2019 Findmypast announced that it had been awarded the contract by the UK National Archives (in association with the Office for National Statistics) to digitise the 1921 census for England and Wales and publish it online.[1] It was released on the FindMyPast website on 6 January 2022.[5] Fees are charged for individual household entries, with an additional fee for an image of the relevant entry. FindMyPast's terms of use say:[6]

You cannot use the Records to create your own work such as databases, articles, blogs, or books, or copy or reproduce the Records (either in whole or in part), or publish them, for a purpose other than personal use, without our prior written permission (and/ or that of the Licensor of the Records).

Media reporting on the England and Wales release described the census as giving an insight into British society in the years after the First World War. It was noted for example that 1.7 million more women were listed than men with a particularly sharp gender imbalance among 20 to 45 year olds, over 730,000 children were described as lacking fathers in comparison to 261,000 without mothers and that the number of people in hospital had increased by 35% since 1911 which was believed to be primarily due to veterans suffering from long-term injuries sustained during the conflict. Some responders had made political comments whilst filling out the census (e.g “David Lloyd George, build houses” and “Out of Work in the Land Fit for Heroes”). Whilst others had used it for humour, such as one mother who had described her three young children's occupations as “Getting into mischief”, “Getting into more mischief” and (for the 11-month-old) “occupying feeding bottles” along with many households that included their pets.[7][8]

The Scottish release of the census which took place on 30 November 2022 to the database ScotlandsPeople was similarly linked to the aftermath of the First World War and Spanish Flu pandemic. For instance, the population had seen its smallest decade-on-decade increase since the first census in 1801 with the male population seeing a much smaller increase than the female one. In the context of industrial unrest, it was noted that significant numbers of soldiers were stationed near collieries. In a more long-term demographic trend, the number of people listed as being able to speak Scottish Gaelic only or being bilingual had fallen significantly since 1911. Unlike in England and Wales, the original census forms filled in by responders were destroyed when the census was typed up, so the kind of additional comments added by members of the public which were seen in the English and Welsh release are not available in the Scottish one.[9][10][11][12]

Contents

In addition to the questions asked for the 1911 census, the following information was recorded:[1]

  • Employment details:
  • Householders' place of employment
  • The industry they worked in
  • The materials they worked with
  • Their employer's name.
  • If aged 15 or older, marital status (including if divorced)
  • If aged under 15, whether both parents were alive or if either or both had died.
  • Detailed questions on education

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Niall Cullen (27 February 2019). "The 1921 Census is Coming to Findmypast". FindMyPast. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
  2. 1 2 "Table Y.— Census Populations, 1921, British Empire, Dominions, Colonies and Possessions", in The Registrar-General's Statistical Review of England and Wales, Part 2 (Great Britain General Register Office, 1927) p.117
  3. ↑ "Life in 1916 Ireland: Stories from statistics"
  4. ↑ How to look for Census records. The National Archives. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
  5. ↑ Sneak peek of 1921 census released ahead of January publication Evening Standard. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  6. ↑ "19. Intellectual property rights - Help and FAQs". www.findmypast.co.uk. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  7. ↑ Armstrong, Julia (6 January 2022). "Census 1921: A unique snapshot of life in Sheffield and nation 101 years ago". www.thestar.co.uk. Archived from the original on 6 January 2022. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  8. ↑ Hill, Amelia (6 January 2022). "1921 Census of England and Wales reveals nation reeling from war". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 6 January 2022. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  9. ↑ "News article: 1921 census records released | ScotlandsPeople". www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk. 30 November 2022. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  10. ↑ Clelland, Myko (28 November 2022). "1921 census Scotland: Everything you need to know". Who Do You Think You Are Magazine. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  11. ↑ Jackson, Luke (30 November 2022). "The 1921 Scottish census has been released". Midlothian View. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  12. ↑ Dewar, Caitlyn (30 November 2022). "Lives of Scots from 100 years ago revealed as 1921 census published". STV News. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
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