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.
Years Available
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.
If you use this information in your research, please say that it is from Genuki
Norfolk.
Copyright © Mike Bristow.
April 2016
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.
- 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.
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 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]
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 |
- 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 :-
- 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 :-
- 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.
- 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 :-
- 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.
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.