The 1861 Channel Islands Census
The 1861 Channel Islands Census
A page from the 1861 census covering part of the parish of St Mary
The 1861 Census for the Channel Islands was taken on the night of 7 April 1861
There are records for 24,000 households.
The 1861 Channel Islands Census was taken on the night of 7 April 1861. All responses were to reflect the individual's status as of 7 April 1861 for all individuals who had spent the night in the house. People who were traveling or living abroad were enumerated at the location where they spent the night on census night
Information requested
- Name of street, avenue, road, etc.
- House name or number
- Whether property vacant or inhabited
- Surname of head of household
- Name of persons who had spent the night in the household
- Relationship of enumerated person to head of house
- Person’s marital status
- Age at last birthday (gender indicated by column in which age is recorded)
- Person’s occupation
- Person’s place of birth
- Whether blind, deaf, or idiot
Enumeration forms were distributed to all households a couple of days before census night and the completed forms were collected the next day. If the head of the house was illiterate or had any problems completing the form the enumerator would assist as much as necessary. All of the details from the individual forms were later sorted and copied into enumerators' books, which are the records available today. The original householders’ schedules from 1841 to 1901 were destroyed.
Census returns were collected according to registration district. These returns were divided into sub-districts and assigned consecutive piece numbers for reference purposes. The piece numbers begin in London with number one and work roughly south to north, followed by the Welsh districts and then the Isle of Man and Channel Islands.
The clerks who compiled and reviewed the census data made a variety of marks on the returns. Unfortunately, many of these tally marks were written over personal information and some fields, such as ages, can be difficult to read as a result. More useful marks include a single slash between households within a building and a double slash separating households in separate buildings.
