STARTER FOR 10: Useful records for house history
1 The Census & 1939 National RegisterValuable for ‘other residents’ Datespan useful: 1841-1911 (1921 coming 2022 for England, Wales and Scotland)
The census (and we’ll include the 1939 National Register here too) gives you names, ages, origins, relationships and occupations, the amount of information increasing each decade as you work forwards in time. The 1939 National Register also provides a full date of birth, which can be useful.
What’s not to love about the census?
I only wish is that the census had been taken every year! My favourite thing about census returns for ‘A House Through Time’ (AHTT) is that they are usually the only way we can see the ‘other’ residents – the servants, the visitors, adopted children etc.
The census night snapshot
One of my favourite stories from the Newcastle house (5 Ravensworth Terrace) was the trick cyclist family staying when the house was used as a theatrical boarding house. We would never have found that story if they hadn’t happened to be staying that particular house on that particular night! And in the Leeds house (see series 4, airing soon) we found a monthly nurse staying with the family on the census – which gave
