The 1901 Census for England and Wales, provided by the National Archives of England, Wales, and the United Kingdom, is an extremely valuable resource for genealogists and researchers across the globe. The database contains all records from the 1901 Census for England and Wales, from the source that originally collected the data.
Certain information is available at no charge, such as the name, age, birthplace, administrative county and civil parish of residence, and occupation of each individual noted in the 1901 Census. However, there is a charge for viewing the original census image and other “easy to read” information, for example persons in the same household, as well as residents of institutions such as orphanages and prisons, and vessels, both naval and merchant. Users can search by person or place, as long as certain information is available. For instance, institution and vessel searches are available, but only if you know part of the name.
The help screens are very extensive – there is detail about the data itself, as well as the different kinds of searches available. The site also includes a FAQ, which mainly consists of questions about using the site (e.g. pricing, etc.) instead of the census content. The interface is fairly basic and site navigation is consistent throughout, but the structure could be improved. The first thing this reviewer noticed was an advertisement for the National Archives' more in‐depth research service – which is conducted off‐line. This service is the first that is provided by the National Archives – those looking for previous census data are directed to a for‐profit site. There is one search category for each search topic: person, address, place, institution, and vessel. Each search category has a different form, where searchers are required to enter various pieces of information, such as name (or partial name), address, administrative county, etc. Other search fields are available, such as parish, borough, etc.
This site is very user‐friendly, and serves as an extremely valuable resource for researchers and genealogists across the globe. Unfortunately, quite a lot of the information is only available to those who pay for it, but public and academic libraries will want to add this site to their list of genealogy links.
