Find My Past - Announcing: the 1921 Census

Post date: 28-Feb-2019 12:08:44 Updated 27/09/2021

Announcing: the 1921 Census

In the most anticipated family history development since the online publication of the 1939 Register, Findmypast has been selected as The National Archives’ commercial partner to make the 1921 Census of England & Wales available online.

The census, which was the first to be conducted following the introduction of the Census Act of 1920, will be published online by Findmypast in 2022.

The 1921 Census is coming to Findmypast

Niall Cullen - Senior Content Strategist 27 February 2019

The National Archives in association with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has awarded Findmypast the contract to digitise and publish the 1921 Census online.

In the most anticipated family history development since the online publication of the 1939 Register, Findmypast has been selected as The National Archives' commercial partner to make the 1921 Census of England & Wales available online.

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The census, which was the first to be conducted following the introduction of the Census Act of 1920, is scheduled to be published online by Findmypast in early 2022.

The project will see Findmypast capture digital images and transcribe the records in a way that will enable family historians across the globe to conduct meaningful searches of these important records when they are opened for the very first time.

Taken on 19th June 1921, the census consists of more than 28,000 bound volumes of original household returns containing detailed information on close to 38 million individuals.

It provides greater detail than any previous census as, in addition to the questions asked in 1911, the 1921 returns also asked householders to reveal their place of employment, the industry they worked in and the materials they worked with as well as their employer's name. Those aged 15 and older were required to provide information about their marital status, including if divorced, while for those under 15 the census recorded whether both parents were alive or if either or both had died.

The 1921 Census also included detailed questions on education, and was the first in which individual householders could submit separate confidential returns.

ScotlandsPeople has announced via Twitter that there will be a considerable delay in the release of the 1921 Scotland census.

Scotland originally planned to have its 1921 census released in the summer of 2021 – before the one for England and Wales, which is being released via Findmypast in early 2022. Later it was hoped that the 1921 Scotland census would come out towards the end of 2021 but yesterday’s announcement via Twitter has suggested a much greater delay. The message read:

“We know everyone is keen to get an update on progress around the release of the 1921 Scottish Census. We are working hard on this and will be releasing the images on http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk and in the ScotlandsPeople Centre in the latter half of 2022.”