Genealogy Chat

Thanks for the replies - I did wonder how they could take the census for those in the middle of the Atlantic, which was probably where granddad was!

From 1851 to 1921 the enumeration of those aboard ships was restricted to vessels in port on census night and vessels which arrived during the following day. In 1931 a new interpretation placed upon the terms of the Order in Council was that the census was intended to include only (a) ships in port or at moorings in Great Britain on census midnight and (b) ships which at census midnight were engaged upon a coastwise or fishing voyage (whether within territorial waters or not); ie ships which were on voyage between two ports in Great Britain or on a fishing voyage from a port in Great Britain, either returning to the same port or proceeding to another port in Great Britain. This change of interpretation, which simplified procedure considerably, removed uncertainty about the enumeration of those in ships arriving in port after census midnight, whose proper inclusion depended upon whether they were or were not within territorial waters at census midnight.

I think this is only true for vessels in port.
It is after all a British census not a census for British citizens,

Hi - I understand that crew aboard British Merchant vessels were included in the census. Is this only true from a certain year? (I'm guessing 1861 but not sure). I am having such trouble finding my grandfather between 1901 and the end of WW1. He's not on the 1911 census as far as I can tell.