FindMyPast.com Launches New Version of the 1901 Census Online

Leading UK family history website findmypast.com today unveils its brand new version of the 1901 census. Records from the first two counties, Somersetshire and Gloucestershire, are now online and available to search at findmypast.com, and the remaining counties will be added gradually over the coming months.

Applying its trademark meticulous approach to quality control, findmypast has completely retranscribed the 1901 census from scratch, with the aim of providing an industry leading product. In addition, a variety of fields have been transcribed, making it possible to search for an individual using, for example, their calculated year of birth, their age or occupation.

To narrow down results, try searching for a second person living at the same address. It is also possible to search for an address on the census, as well as for a person. You can also choose in what order you want to view search results - by birth year, oldest first; by birth year, youngest first; alphabeticaly by name A to Z or alphabetically by name Z to A. In addition, the free search results include the name of the county of residence - a boon to anyone not familiar with every registration district.

These new features have also been added to all the other censuses at findmypast.

And finally, search criteria are now also retained, making it easier to carry out the same search across all the censuses on findmypast.

This addition of the 1901 census to the website sees findmypast take a step closer to its mission to offer a full set of England and Wales censuses online by the end of 2008.

About the 1901 census

The 1901 census was taken on 31 March and gave the total population as 32,527,843.

1901 is perhaps best remembered as the year that Queen Victoria died, after a 63 year reign. She was succeeded by her son, Prince Albert Edward, who became Edward VII. Other key events in 1901 included the formation of the Commonwealth of Australia, the creation of a fingerprint archive by Scotland Yard and Marconi receiving the first trans-Atlantic radio signal.