The 1841 UK census is the first really useful census for family historians. The earlier returns were simply a numerical count and give little detailed information except where an enumerator decided to exceed his duties and include more. In any case, hardly anything of the previous ones (1801, 1811, 1821, 1831) has survived, and not for Cradley.
1841 A searchable transcription of the 1841 census returns for Cradley by Nigel Brown and Stephanie Robinson is available on Cradley Links.
This census was taken on the nights of Sunday and Monday, June 6/7 1841. The returns are grouped by the ancient local areas known as 'hundreds', and Cradley was a Chapelry in the Parish of Halesowen in the Lower Division of the Halfshire Hundred of the county of Worcestershire.
The main information for each person is name, age, sex, occupation and whether or not a person was born in the county of residence. For those under 15, ages were given exactly, if known; for people over 15, ages were rounded down to the nearest five years.
The Public Records Office reference for this census is 'HO107' and for Cradley the fuller reference is HO107/1197/7, where '1197' is the piece number, which means a box of the enumerators' folders, and '7' is the book. The enumerators' books are bound into folders, generally about five or six at a time. To complete a reference you need to add the particular folio number or numbers followed by a page number. Folio numbers are stamped on the right hand corner of every other page, which is printed in the centre and at the top of each page. Don't ask us why. That is just the way it is. All this information is given in our census transcription to enable you to refer to the original source.
In our 1841 Cradley census transcription we have not expanded on abbreviations. In the case of given names these are mostly fairly obvious, for example, William is often written as Wm., Benj is Benjamin, Elizth is Elizabeth, and so on. Abbreviations are also used frequently for occupations, the main ones are:
| | F.S. | Female servant | | | M.S. | Male servant | | | Lab | Labourer | | | Ag Lab | Agricultural labourer | | | Cl | Clerk (we think) | | | Ap | Apprentice | | | Ind | "of independent means" | | | ArmyP | Army Pensioner |
1851 A searchable transcription of the 1851 census for Cradley is available on this site.
1861 The 1861 census for much of the Black Country (including Cradley) has been transcribed by Richard Griffiths and may be accessed at his web site.
1871 We are not aware of any transcriptions presently available for 1871. Your local family history society, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Family History Center, records office or library may be able to provide microfilms.
1881 Thanks to the generosity of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a searchable transcription of the 1881 census returns for Cradley is available on Cradley Links.
A 25-CD set covering the entire country is available for purchase at modest cost.
1891 We are not aware of any transcriptions presently available for 1891. Your local family history society, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Family History Center, records office or library may be able to provide microfilms.
1901 The 1901 census is currently online at the www.census.pro.gov.uk test site.
If you need help in obtaining other census information, contact Cradley Links or subscribe to the Cradley Links mailing list and ask there.
In all cases, including our own, we urge you to confirm your findings on original sources, as errors and omissions inevitably occur. (The 1841 census is written in pencil, which can make it difficult to read.)
Best of luck!
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