Understanding Census Terms
| Abstract of Totals |
A page containing a statistical breakdown of the numbers of people and buildings within each Enumeration District. |
| Address | Name and/or number of a house. Name or description of street, village, town etc. |
| Administrative County | England and Wales were divided into a number of administrative areas known as Counties. On some enumeration pages, the name of the Borough is given as the Administrative County. |
| Civil Parish | A local administrative unit. |
| County Borough | An administrative area which was not part of an Administrative County. |
| Declaration Sheet | A page containing signed declarations by the enumerator, registrar and superintendent registrar with responsibility for each Enumeration District. |
| Ecclesiastical Parish | A local Church of England district. |
| Enumeration | The act of taking a census. |
| Enumeration District | An area within a Registration Sub-District with specified boundaries. The basic unit by which the census returns are arranged. The returns from each district were made in an Enumeration Book. |
| Enumerator | A person appointed to deliver and collect household schedules, assist with their completion and then copy out the information into the Enumeration Book. |
| Enumeration Page | See Nominal Page |
| Example Page | A pre-printed example of a Nominal Page showing how the enumerator should complete the forms. There is one in every Enumeration Book. |
| FRC | The Family Records Centre. |
| Folio | Part of The National Archives Reference Number covering two consecutive images. |
| Institution | Any public or charitable buildings such as prisons, hospitals, asylums, schools, colleges, barracks, etc. Institutions housing more than 100 people were usually detailed in distinct Institutional Books. Others were listed on the standard nominal pages and can be searched for using the Address rather than the Institution Search. |
| Instruction Sheet | A pre-printed form containing instructions to the enumerator on how to complete the census. One appears in every Enumeration Book. |
| Municipal Borough | Towns possessing certain municipal powers which usually also had parliamentary representation. |
| Nominal Page (Enumeration Page) |
A page containing details of each individual enumerated in the census returns. |
| Page | Part of The National Archives Reference Number. |
| Page Types | Click here for a further breakdown of page types and descriptions. |
| Parliamentary Borough or Division | Parliamentary Boroughs were municipal boroughs with parliamentary representation. Some such boroughs returned more than one MP and had to be divided, hence the Parliamentary Borough Division. |
| Piece | Part of The National Archives Reference Number containing a number of Enumeration Districts. |
| Registration District | England and Wales were divided into a number of districts for the purposes of registering births, deaths, marriages and census returns. The name of each Registration District can be found on the Description of Enumeration District page. Registration Districts often contained civil parishes from more than one county. |
| Registration Sub-District | Subdivision of a Registration District with specified boundaries. |
| Rural District | A local Government administration district. |
| Schedule | A number given to each distinct household within an Enumeration District. |
| Summary of Civil Parishes | A page containing a statistical summary of the numbers of people and buildings within each Enumeration District. |
| The National Archives Reference Number | The National Archives' archival reference used to identify an individual image. |
| Town, Village or Hamlet | Town: A settlement more regularly built than a village and having more complete and independent local government. Village: A centre of habitation in a country district and a subdivision of a parish, generally for Poor Law purposes. Hamlet: A settlement smaller than a village, and a subdivision of a parish. |
| Urban District | A local Government administrative district. The name of the Urban District can be found on each Nominal Page. |
| Vessels | Ships and boats including the Royal Navy and those engaged in trade, fishing, transporting passengers and inland navigation. The census returns include foreign vessels in British ports and Royal Navy vessels at sea and in foreign ports. |
| Ward | Subdivision of a Municipal Borough or Urban District. |