The following announcement was written by Findmypast.com:
Six new counties have now been added to the 1871 census of England and Wales on findmypast.com - these are Cardiganshire, Cumberland, Monmouthshire, Northumberland, Warwickshire and Westmorland. There are now 40 complete counties online at findmypast.com, equating to 93% of the population surveyed in this census. The remaining 14 counties will be added in early March as part of findmypast.com's mission to offer a full set of England and Wales censuses online by the end of 2008.
Taken on the night of 2 April 1871, the census gave the total population of England and Wales as 22,723,000. Among the new records just uploaded to findmypast.com is one showing Liberal Member of Parliament Joseph Arch. He is listed aged 44 under the county of Warwickshire along with his wife and four children. The census gives his occupation in 1871 as labourer and methodist local preacher. Just one year after the census his political career began when he became President of the National Agricultural Labourers Union.
How to search the 1871 census:
Like all the censuses on findmypast.com, the new counties can be searched by name of person or you can choose to search by address, and also by a number of different fields, such as occupation or age. All the new records can be searched using our normal search tools. Images and transcripts can be viewed with pay-per-view units or a subscription.
Unfortunately the 1871 census cannot be searched using the occupation field. This is an invaluable way of searching and is available on findmypast's 1861, 1881 and 1891 census. I assume that this is because the 1871 (and also the 1841 which again is not searchable using an occupation) is due to the partnership with Origins and that Origins did not transcribe this field (together with the condition) and therefore it is not available for findmypast's all field search.
Posted by: Gillian | March 03, 2008 at 04:29 AM