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Why is the 1911 Census so important?

With 8,500,000 pages and around 35,000,000 persons recorded the information in the 1911 Census of England & Wales provides a key link between the 1901 Census and the expansion of the birth, marriage, and death indexes in 1911-12.

From the September 1911 quarter the mother's maiden name is shown in the indexes of births, an invaluable aid to identifying the children of a particular couple. Then from the March 1912 quarter, the surname of the spouse is shown in the marriages indexes, making it much simpler to identify the correct marriage.

Currently the period from April 1901 to March 1911 is a 'black hole' in which research is much more difficult. Only censuses typically record an entire family living together; piecing this information together between 1901-11 is very difficult indeed, and researchers frequently order the wrong certificates.

Is the census complete and in good condition?

According to the National Archives website only one volume out of 35000 is missing. However, around 5% of the volumes have suffered water damage, and some of the information in these volumes cannot be retrieved.

Does this mean that as many as 5% of the records have been lost? No - but it is possible that information from some of the damaged volumes does not become available until the process of digitizing them is complete. 

 

1911 Census Info is completely independent of the National Archives and the Office of National Statistics; information is provided in good faith and we cannot accept any liability for errors or omissions