Other online companies also offer access, whilst most county archives have a set of returns for the relevant county; a national set is available from the Family Records Centre, Islington.
Ever since 1801, a census has been taken in Britain to record the number of people who lived in each household. From 1841, personal details were recorded for the first time, and by 1851 the questions had become more sophisticated to incorporate information on the relationship of each person to the head of the household, as well as their name, age, gender, marital status, occupation and place of birth. Since the records contain such sensitive personal data, they are closed to public inspection for 100 years. This means that the most recent set of returns that can be viewed are from 1901, and are available online via The National Archives website www.nationalarchives.gov.uk, which also provides online access to earlier returns from 1851-1891 via Ancestry.co.uk. Other online companies also offer access, whilst most county archives have a set of returns for the relevant county; a national set is available from the Family Records Centre, Islington.