Devon 
Contents & Search
With the encouragement of the Devon County Archivist, John Draisey, this project has been set up with the aim of identifying all the extant pre-1841 Devon cenuses and population listings, and making transcriptions or indexes available on-line in GENUKI/Devon. The lists below summarise the progress to date and - most importantly - indicate the cenuses for which volunteer transcribers are still sought, together - where known - with the locations and reference nos. of such census documents. (Almost all are at one or other of the Devon record offices.) Would-be volunteers are invited to contact me in the first instance, with an indication of the census document(s) that they would like to transcribe, so that I can confirm that these are still unallocated, and can update my records appropriately.
The documents dating from 1801, 1811, 1821, and 1831 were typically produced in connection with the National Census - others are typically Churchwarden's Censuses. The information contained varies somewhat - however all purportedly name all the inhabitants, or at least the household heads of a given parish, in some cases adding information about ages and family relationships.
At present the information about extant censuses and population listings comes mainly from the two references cited below. Assistance is sought on checking and expanding on this information through examination of the Devon record offices' card files, since at this stage the location of some censuses is still to be confirmed, and there may be others still to find.
Volunteer transcribers who cannot access the relevant record office will need to acquire a photocopy - the cost of photocopies of this type of document is normally very modest. In the case of the Devon record offices the protocol is to contact the relevant record office, in order to request a photocopy order and copyright declaration form. In each case, it will be necessary for the volunteer to obtain the record office's permission for a transcription to be placed on-line - in some instances the documents are classed as church records, and the permission of the relevant incumbent will be needed.
Email addresses for record office enquiries:
Transcriptions can be produced either using a word-processor such as MS WORD, or a spreadsheet such as EXCEL, and should be as complete and accurate as possible, with any transcriber's remarks, e.g. concerning illegible text, enclosed in square brackets. I suggest, where there is any uncertainty regarding formatting, etc., that I be sent an early sample of a transcription, so that any problems can be ironed out before much time has been spent by the transcriber.
Brian Randell
EMAIL = Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk
+ Chapman, Colin R. Pre-1841 Censuses & Population Listings in the British Isles (4th ed.), 6 Holywell Road, Dursley, GL11 5RS, Lochin Publishing (1994) 82 pp. [ISBN 1-873686-07-2]
* Gibson, J.S.W. and Medlycott, M.T. Local Census Listings 1522-1930 (2nd ed.), Birmingham, Fed. of Fam. Hist. Soc. (1994) 52 pp. [ISBN 1-872094-75-9]
Last updated 4 Aug 2009 - Brian Randell.
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