HOW TO SEARCH THE 1921 CENSUS

The 1921 Census is free to search, so well worth giving a go. Read on for hints to help you begin, with Helen Tovey

Helen Tovey

Acensus record is always such an evocative record to look at – giving us the chance to see our ancestors, very often at home with their family members and also giving us clues as to their occupations too (and with employer details the 1921 is doing us proud in this respect). However, this is no cosy period of history and many of us who have been searching the 1921 Census records over the past few weeks will be able to testify to this.

With hundreds of thousands of fatherless children at the time, roughly a million men suffering from injuries sustained in the First World War, wages slashed, and unemployment rampant, 1921 was in some respects an extremely harsh time to be alive.

But a perhaps a heady time too, with a mixture of fervour for Irish independence, industrial action, trade union might, and the international Communist movement leading to people to protest and urge for a better future. [See the February issue of Family Tree for coverage of the background to the period in which the 1921 Census was taken.]

Over these pages we will provide hints to help you get the most from your 1921 Census investigations on Findmypast. We are also sharing some of the experiences of fellow readers (see page 59). With no further ado, let’s begin…

Where to begin

You do not need a subscription to Findmypast in order to search the 1921 Census on Findmypast, and you do not need to take out a 14 day free trial. You do need to register with the website however. Once you are logged in you will be able to conduct searches at no charge.

How to do a basic search

Note that when you are using the basic search fields you are entering the year of birth in the ‘Birth year’ field.

However, the ‘Where’ field is not for place of birth; the ‘Where’ field is for you to enter the place in which you expect the person to be in 1921.