1911Census.org.uk

The 1921 Census

The 1921 Census for England, Wales and Scotland was taken on the night of Sunday 19th June 1921.

It had been originally planned that the census would be taken on the night of 24th April 1921 but this was delayed because of strikes.

Extra questions asked over the 1911 census included

• whether a marriage has been dissolved by divorce
• where each person works
• the industry within which someone works

The question introduced in 1911 about the number of children was dropped, the reason given was that the results from the previous census had not yet been tabulated. Also the question about blindness, deafness or dumbness were removed on the grounds that the parents had objected to giving this information about their children with the result that answers given in the previous census were unreliable.

There was no 1921 census of Ireland, more details here. The next census both for the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland which remained part of the United Kingdom was taken in 1926. In the case of Northern Ireland, the census was taken on the night of 18/19 April 1926 with the police used as enumerators. The census for The Irish Free State was taken on the same night.

The 1926 Census for Ireland (the Republic of Ireland) is currently (June 2012) in the process of being released by legislation to enable it to be made available to the public with the hope it will be accessible by 2016.

Accessing the 1921 Census .... when will the 1921 Census be released?

The ruling by the Information Commissioner that resulted in the 1911 census being opened early does not apply to the 1921 census because, unlike the 1911 census, the 1921 census was conducted under the 1920 Census Act, which is still in force and which contains a statutory prohibition on disclosure.

The stated government position from the ONS is "its intention to release the entirety of the 1921 census returns in 2022, in accordance with the non-statutory '100 year rule' which was adopted to reflect this undertaking of confidentiality".

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