In the 19th century, the census became a central tool of modern government, used to count people and to understand how they lived and worked. Across Europe and North America, states shifted from rough headcounts to regular, systematic, usually decennial enumerations that recorded individuals by name, age, sex, occupation, and family relationships. This richer information supported debates over population growth, urbanization, public health, and the condition of the working classes.
New administrative systems made this possible. Governments divided countries into registration or enumeration districts and relied on local officials and temporary enumerators to deliver household schedules, help illiterate respondents, collect the forms, and copy them into central books. Over the century, questionnaires expanded to ask about birthplace, language, disability, and housing conditions, reflecting growing statistical “mania” and the belief that social problems could be measured and managed.
Over the 19th century, the character of these censuses changed significantly. The early counts (1801–1831) were largely numerical summaries, collected through parish officials, focusing on total population, numbers of houses, and broad employment categories. From 1841, the census became a modern, name‑by‑name household enumeration, listing individuals, ages, sex, occupations and, increasingly, birthplace and other details.
The information in the data below has often been hand transcribed by individuals working on microfiche copies of the census. Errors and omission should hence be expected.
It is recommended to check any data found here with one of the large, often subscription based digitized genealogical sites.
The data bases below can only be searched globally on “all fields” rather than just say “Surname”. This means that entering “Jones” will return all ” Jones” and “Miner” will return all miners but you cannot search for “Jones + Miner”
Follow the links below to select a database for more information:
Census data bases
- Amlwch census data 1801
- Amlwch census data 1841
- Amlwch census data 1851
- Amlwch census data 1861
- Amlwch census data 1881
- Amlwch census data 1891
Other databases