Research your roots and learn about your heritage.

NEW! 1841 and 1851 census finds of Romany, Traveller, Fairground and Circus people

It’s very rare to discover Travelling people enumerated in the 1841 and 1851 censuses of Britain. This is because in those two years enumerators were instructed only to record the number of people they found who were not living in houses, not their personal details.

But it’s now becoming clear that a good number of  enumerators went beyond their brief and did indeed interview individuals who were living in the open air, vans, tents, barns and sheds and recorded their names, ages, birthplaces, occupations and so on in full.

Such entries are often crossed through by the census administrators but they are usually still legible. They have therefore been digitised, indexed and transcribed in the same way as all other census entries, even though they are effectively “errors” on the part of those original enumerators.

The RTFHS is now collecting 1841 and 1851 census finds of this kind. You’ll find the first of these listed before and we will be adding to them regularly. If you have any others to offer, please contact us at enquiries[at]rtfhs.org.uk

And please also take a look at this page where we list large encampments we’ve discovered in all census years, that is ones containing more than 20 people.

1841 census

England

• Essex

1841 census – encampment in Rayleigh, Essex, attending a fair on Trinity Monday

• Herefordshire

1841 census – encampment in Asperton, Ledbury, Herefordshire

• Kent

1841 census – Boughton Malherbe, Hollingbourne, Kent

1841 census – encampment in Ewell, Dover, Kent

1841 census – tents in Lenham, Hollingbourne, Kent

• London & Middlesex

1841 census – encampment of tents in Hanworth, Staines, Middlesex

• Oxfordshire

1841 census – encampment in Tadmarton, Banbury, Oxfordshire

• Surrey

1841 census – Horsley East, Guildford, Surrey

• Warwickshire

1841 census – encampment of Showfolk in Smithfield, St Martin’s, Birmingham, Warwickshire

• Wiltshire

1841 census – encampment in Latton, Cricklade & Wooton Bassett, Wiltshire, described as Camp Tent

• Yorkshire

1841 census – encampment of tents in Uttley Green Head, Keighley, Yorkshire

Scotland

• Morayshire

1841 census – encampment of Wombwell’s circus in Bellie, Moray, Scotland

Wales

• Brecknockshire

 

1851 census

England

• Buckinghamshire

1851 census – tents in Denham, Eton, Buckinghamshire

 • Cumberland

• Devon

• Hampshire

• Herefordshire

• Kent

• Lancashire

• Lincolnshire

• Somerset

• Suffolk

• Sussex

• Warwickshire

• Yorkshire

1851 census – large encampment in Scotchman Lane, Dewsbury, Yorkshire