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A copy of a page from the enumerator's book covering part of Exeter High Street in 1891.
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Every ten years from 1801 (except for the war year of 1941) a census has been taken of the population of Great Britain. Enumerators visited each household to collect details and the results were summarised in books known as the census enumerators' returns. The census is the only inhabitant list which seeks to list every member of the community. Earlier listings were selective, normally omitting two important sections of the community - women and children. For the genealogist the entries give the date of birth, often revealing the appropriate parish registers to search. For house historians the entries give full details of occupancy on census night, for community historians a vast amount of information of occupations, family structure, age distribution, and migration can be ascertained. There is more information on
census returns on this website, including a case study of paper makers in 19th century Exeter.
Census returns for all devon from 1841 to 1901 are held in microform in the westcountry Studies Library in Exeter. You can search censuses on the web for
1881,
1891 (90% complete in 2004) and
1901.
You may need to use large-scale maps to identify the enumerator's walk and locate individual properties accurately.
Click for
the community trail,
the house trail or
the family trail
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