1901 Census

Census Record

The earliest complete Census of Ireland available for searching was taken in March 1901. We can search this census for any address at the National Archives of Ireland. The later 1911 census can now be searched online (see the website of the National Archives of Ireland).

Individual census forms list the full name of all individuals present in a particular household on the night of the census. The relationship of each individual to the ‘Head of the Family’ is also specified (eg. wife, daughter, son, grandson, visitor etc). The census lists the following additional details in relation to each household member:

1. Age
2. ‘Rank or Profession’ – in effect their occupation
3. Marital Status – whether married, single, widowed etc.
4. Religious Denomination
5. ‘Education’ – whether they could read or write
6. Place of birth – the county or city for those born in Ireland, the country for those born outside Ireland
7. Proficiency in the Irish and English languages

Additional Information and Advice

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Within towns and cities the census identifies households by street address, while in the countryside households are identified by townland (the smallest administrative division in Ireland consisting in effect of a small village or group of farms).

A useful additional feature of the 1911 census is an indication of the duration of marriage of all married women in the household, with a further note of the number of children born alive during their marriage and the number of such children still living at the time of the census. This information is particularly useful for locating the marriage records of the couples listed in the census.

The census also contains a ‘House and Buildings Return’ which gives some information on the family dwelling, including a note of the number of rooms occupied by the household and the quality of construction of the actual building.

The details provided by the census open up a number of routes for further research (the years of marriage information noted above is a prime example). The census form maps out the family relationships of those present in the household and provides a place and approximate date of birth for each individual. This simplifies the process of obtaining civil birth records and also narrows the search for baptismal records of those individuals born before 1864 (when civil registration was introduced for all the people of Ireland). The details of occupation are another interesting and informative feature and provide an increased measure of certainty in further searches while clarifying the results of previous searches.

The census and civil registration records work in a complementary fashion to provide a solid base of family history in the late 19th/ early 20th Century. Together they provide a platform to allow a search to continue further in time.