Census Abbreviations and Terms
Because of limited space and the need to record so much information, the enumerators often used abbreviations. Some were self-explanatory, but others are harder to guess at. You may also find yourself researching censuses in America or Australia, where terms are slightly different.
Here below is a list of abbreviations used across censuses. The entries in bold indicate commonly-used British census abbreviations.
/ // A. A.C. Ad. AdCl. Add/AdD AdGc. AdM. Ads./AdS. Ag. Lab. App./Ap. Army Asst. Att. B. Bar. B.C. Bl. B.Boy B.Girl Bo. Btm. Bu. C. Cap. Ca. Cha. C.C. CiL. Coa. Com. Cl. Cw. D. Dl. Dla. Dw. Dom. Dir. Emp. En. F. F. FaH. F.C. FaL. FaW. Fi. Fl. Fb./FoB. FoSi/FS. F.S. H.L.W. H.P. Go. Gcl. Gd. Gf. GGF. GGM. GM/Gm. Gn. Gni. Gs. Gua. Hb. Hel. Her. HGi. H.H. H.K. Hlg. HSi. H.W. I.C. I. Ind. J. L. La. Lau. Ld. Ls. Lw. M. Ml. M. m. Man. Mat. M.S. N. Navy Ni Nu. O. Or. P. P. Pa. Ph. Por. Pr. Pri. P.R.O. Prv. Pu. R. Rail. Lab. S. S. Sal. Sd. SeCl. Serv. Sf. Sh. Sl. Sm. Ss. Ssi. Ten. Su. U. Vi./Vis. W. Wa. Wa. Wkm. Wt. | The end of a household The end of a dwelling or building Aunt Adopted child Adopted Adopted child Adopted daughter Adopted grandchild Adopted mother Adopted son Agricultural Labourer (1841 - 1881) Apprentice (1841 - 1861) HM Forces of any rank (1841) Assistant Attendant Brother Bartender Bastard child Brother in law Bound boy Bound girl Boarder Bath maid Butler Cousin Captain Caretaker Chambermaid Child in care Cousin in law Coachman Companion Clerk (1841 - 1861) or Child Charwoman Daughter Daughter in law Day labourer Dish washer Domestic Distant relative Employee Engineer Foreign (1841) Father Farm hand Foster child Farm labourer Farm worker Fireman Father in law Foster brother Foster sister Female Servant (1841) Hand Loom Weaver Member of Armed Forces on Half Pay (1841) Governess Grandchild Granddaughter Grandfather Great grandfather (GGGF for great great grandfather) Great grandmother (GGGM for great great grandmother) Grandmother Great- or grand- nephew Great- or grand- neice Grandson Guardian Half-brother (Hbl for half brother in law) Helper Herder Hired girl Hired help Housekeeper Hireling Half-sister (HSil for Half sister in law) House worker Illegitimate child Ireland (1841) Independent - Who can live on own means (1841) Journeyman (1841) Lodger Labourer Laundry Lodger's daughter Lodger's son Lodger's wife Mother Mother in law Manufacturer (1841) Maker of things, as in Shoe m. - shoe maker (1841) Manager Matron Male Servant (1841) Nephew Navy and Marine of any rank (1841) Neice Nurse Officer Orphan Pensioner - In the Armed Forces (1841) Patient Partner Physician Porter Prisoner Principal Public Records Office Private Pupil Roomer Railway Labourer (1841) Scotland (1841) Son Salesman/saleslady Stepdaughter Servant's child Servant (1841) Stepfather Shopman (1841) Son in law Stepmother Stepson Stepsister Tenant Superintendent Uncle Visitor Wife Ward Warden Workman Waiter/waitress |
Terms
Piece number
Consists of usually between 100-400 pages.
Enumeration District
This refers to a group of streets, and has a special sheet which lists the streets which are in the following pages.
A PRO reference number
a number of Enumeration Districts represented by a file RG9-XXXX (where XXXX is the piece number).
Folio
Reference to two pages. The original book pages included a folio number on every other page in the top right-hand corner. One road could be split between several 'folios'.
