Census of Scotland, 1841

Matthew Woollard

The census for Scotland was taken along the same lines as in England and Wales, and was subject to the same legislation. The two acts, Census Act, 1840 (3 & 4 Vict. c.99) and Census Amendment Act, 1841 (4 Vict. c.7) applied to Scotland.

The main difference between the English and the Scottish census was that the administrative unit of 'registration district' had not been introduced in Scotland. In Scotland, as in earlier years, the official schoolmaster was generally entrusted with enumerating each parish, while the Sheriff Substitute (or Depute) of each county acted in the same role as the Superintendent-Registrar's in England. The enumerators' books were forwarded from the Sheriff Substitute (or equivalent in burghs) directly to the Registrar General's Office in London for tabulation.

The enumeration in 1841 collected information on the same subjects as in England (including names, sex, age, occupation and birthplace. In the case of Scotland birthplaces were supposed to be returned as 'Yes' if born in the same county, 'No' if born in a different county in Scotland, 'E' for England, 'I' for Ireland and 'F' for foreigner, which was slightly different to in England and Wales. No information relating to relationship to head of household was collected, though the space left for the schoolmasters' comments was frequently used, resulting in very detailed notes for each parish in the Enumeration Abstract. For example, the increase in population of the parish of Speymouth in Elginshire was "attributed to the prosperous state of the ship-building in the Village of Kingson Port." The increase in population of the parish of Kemback in Fife since 1831 was due to "the erection of an extensive spinning-mill...and...the excess of females arises from the employment afforded to them at the spinning-mills". The "failure of the herring-fishery" was the cause of the decline in population in Kilmallie in Inverness, while the increase at Kirkbean in Kirkudbright was "attributed to a temporary influx of strangers for sea-bathing". These notes shed valuable light on population changes in nineteenth-century Scotland.

A separate enumeration abstract was published with the same preface as the English census. This contains parish (or lower) population, housing, and birthplace information for each county. Summaries for each district are also provided and information on the county of birth. The age abstract and occupation abstract, both mirrored their English counterparts, though the occupation abstract contains occupations which are not present in England.

According to Cecil Sinclair, the enumerators' books for the 1841 census remained in London until 1910, where the Scottish Registrar General found them "deposited in cellars in Westminster" and had them shipped to Edinburgh.

REFERENCES

C. Sinclair, Jock Tamson's Bairns. A history of the records of the General Register Office for Scotland (Edinburgh, 2000).

Census of Great Britain, 1841, Abstract of the answers and returns made pursuant to Acts 3 & 4 Vic. c.99 and 4 Vic.c.7,... Part I. Enumeration Abstract. Part II. Age Abstract. Scotland BPP 1843 XXII. (498). [View this document: Enumeration abstract, Scotland, 1841]

Census of Great Britain, 1841, Abstract of the answers and returns made pursuant to acts 3 & 4 Vic. c.99 and 4 Vic. c.7,... Occupation abstract, 1841. Part II. Scotland BPP 1844 XXVII (588). [View this document: Occupation abstract, Scotland, 1841]

Census of Great Britain, 1841, Index of names of places in the enumeration abstract of Scotland BPP 1843 XXII. (506).