Search Scotland Census Records

What Scotland Census Records are available?

A Census of Scotland has been conducted every ten years since 1801 – apart from 1941 (due to the 2nd World War).

Only census records for the following years are currently available to the public: 1801, 1811, 1821, 1831, 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901 and 1911.

Like the rest of Great Britain, pre-1841 Scotland census records are of limited interest to family historians because personal details were not recorded until the the census of 1841.

When are the 1921 Scotland Census Records available?

The 1921 Scotland Census records will not be made publicly available until 2021. This is because of the ‘100 years rule’ which imposes a delay of 100 years before the personal information of individuals can be released into the public domain. A similar rule (although under different legislation) applies to the rest of the UK.

Scotlands People have advised that, from 2021, their site will hold digitised copies of the 1921 Census records.

1939 National Identity Register

The 1941 Census was dispensed with largely because a nationwide 1939 National Identity Register had already been taken. This ‘quasi-census’ bore many of the attributes of a normal decennial census. The good news is that many of the records held in the 1939 National Identity Register are in the public domain i.e. the 100 year rule is applied differently. Please see our 1939 Register page for more information. (The register was termed ‘1939 Register’ in England and Wales)

To order an extract of the 1939 National Identity Register please visit the National Records of Scotland.

Scotland Census Records – a comparison with the rest of the UK

The Scotland census has always been conducted separately from the Census of England and Wales. However, the Scotland Census has always been held on the same date as the Census for England and Wales, and has broadly followed the same questions and procedures as the rest of the UK. At the end of the process, General Reports would usually be published for Great Britain as a whole, as well as Scotland individually.

Whilst the Scotland Census was conducted in parallel with the rest of the UK, there were a number of differences between them:

1841 – 1851 Census | different system of collection

Since 1841, the General Register Office (GRO) for England and Wales administered the Census for England and Wales. However, the GRO for Scotland was established later and did not take control of the Scotland Census until 1861. As a result, Scotland Census records for 1841 and 1851 continued to be collected under the system used for the pre-1841 censuses. This involved the Sheriff Substitute appointing a ‘schoolmaster’ (‘or other fit person’) for each parish to collect the census returns (unlike the newly created ‘enumerators’ employed in England and Wales).

1861 census |system matches England and Wales – but extra questions

Following the creating of the General Register Office for Scotland, the procedure in Scotland largely matched that of England and Wales.

However, the 1861 Scottish Census asked a couple of extra questions and they can be illuminating:

• how many rooms with a window each householder enjoyed. This is a useful indicator of prosperity.
• The number of children (aged 5 – 15) educated at school or at home.

1911 Census | Householder’s schedules in Scotland still destroyed

In England and Wales, the 1911 Census introduced a new system of collection (that had long been used in Ireland). Under the new system, the householder’s schedules, in the householder’s own writing, were held by the GRO. Unfortunately, in Scotland, the original householder’s schedules continued to be destroyed once their contents had been copied into an ‘enumeration book’.

1921 Census | Householder’s schedules in Scotland now stored

The 1921 Census for Scotland adopted the same system as that adopted in England and Wales for the 1911 Census. When the 1921 Census becomes available, the Scottish census records will include copies of the original householder’s schedules, in the householder’s own handwriting.

For a discussion of UK census records generally, please visit our census records page or one of the other links below.