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Norfolk Census

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

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If you use this information in your research, please say that it is from Genuki Norfolk.

Copyright © Mike Bristow.
April 2016


Where are they?

The following refers specifically to location of the Norfolk census.

Online indexes

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 :-

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.

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