FINDMYPAST.com Adds Ten New Counties to the 1871 Census

FINDMYPAST.COM ADDS TEN NEW COUNTIES TO THE 1871 CENSUS

Ten more counties have now been added to the 1871 census of England and Wales on findmypast.com - these are Cambridgeshire,Cheshire, Derbyshire, Durham, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Oxfordshire. There are now 34 complete counties online at findmypast.com, equating to 90% of the population surveyed in this census. It is expected that the remaining 25 counties will be added later this month as part of findmypast.com's mission to offer a full set of England and Wales censuses online by the end of 2008.

Some historical background to the 1871 census

The census was taken on the night of 2 April 1871 and gave the total population of England and Wales as 22,723,000. The year was eventful: as well as the formation of the German Empire and crowning of Kaiser Wilhelm I, the Paris Commune was formed then crushed and Trade Unions were legalized in the UK.

Culturally, 1871 saw the opening of the magnificent Royal Albert Hall in London, the publication of Through the Looking Glass and Middlemarch and the premiere of Verdi's opera Aida.

How to search the 1871 census

Like all the censuses on findmypast.com, the new counties can be searched by name of person or you can choose to search by address, and also by a number of different fields, such as occupation or age. All the new records can be searched using our normal search tools.


About findmypast.com

Leading UK family history website findmypast.com (formerly 1837online.com) was the first company to make the complete birth, marriage and death indexes for England & Wales available online in April 2003.

Following the transcription, scanning and indexing of over two million images, the company launched the first website to allow the public easy and fast access to the complete indexes, which until then had only been available on microfiche film in specialist archives and libraries. The launch was instrumental in creating the widespread and growing interest in genealogy seen in the UK today.

Findmypast has subsequently digitized many more family history records and now offers access to over 500 million records dating as far back as 1538. This allows family historians and novice genealogists to search for their ancestors among comprehensive collections of military records, census, migration, occupation directories, and current electoral roll data, as well as the original comprehensive birth, marriage and death records.

In November 2006 findmypast launched the ancestorsonboard.com microsite in association with The National Archives to publish outbound passenger lists for long-distance voyages departing all British ports between 1890 and 1960.

As well as providing access to historical records, findmypast is also developing a range of online tools to help people discover and share their family history more easily, beginning with the launch of Family Tree Explorer in July 2007.

Over 1.7 million people in the UK have researched their family trees and findmypast.com has over 800,000 active registered users, revealing the mass appeal of genealogy and findmypast.com's position as the leading family history website based in the UK.

In April 2007 findmypast's then parent company Title Research Group received the prestigious Queen's Award for Enterprise: Innovation 2007 in recognition of their achievement.

Findmypast.com was acquired in December 2007 by Scotland Online, the company which won The National Archives' tender to publish online the 1911 census.