The 1911 Census

On Sunday 2nd April 1911 the Census was taken in Scotland. It eventually showed that there were 4,759,445 people in Scotland on that day.

The important thing for people researching the names on a Scottish War Memorial from the Great War is that most of those named would have been recorded in either the Scottish, English and Welsh, or Irish census returns taken in 1911.

It is now just over one hundred years since that day and Scotland's People have now followed their English counterparts and released the 1911 census data for Scotland.

Here are the details from the Scotland's People site:


The Registrar General for Scotland has announced that the 1911 census will be released on Tuesday 5 April 2011. This census details information collected from more than 4.7 million Scots – marking a century since the data was first gathered.

The records will include the name, address, age, occupation, birthplace and marital status of everyone counted in the 1911 census, as well as details about their children. For the first time, the census data will be presented in full colour rather than black and white.

It will cost 1 credit to view an index entry for the 1911 census. An image will cost 5 credits. Unlike previous censuses, the image spans two pages due to the additional questions that were asked about the fertility of marriage and the profession or occupation. Each page measures 34 cm long by 43 cm high so the images are best viewed on your computer screen or if printed, on size A3 paper.

Unlike previous censuses there are no plans in the immediate future to relocate the enumeration books to New Register House in Edinburgh because the books need 73.5 metres of shelving. You can view a sample census page here.

James Braid, the famous Scottish golfer and winner of five Open Championships was reported on 3 April 1911 in the Scotsman as having won a golf tournament in Hyeres and Costebelle in Spain. This means that he may have missed being enumerated in the Scottish census. Check out the answer yourself when we release the census on the 5 April.