Genealogy Chat

Sorry, www.eogen(.)com/CensusRecordsUK Denis

Hi again, I'm not an expert, but I have seen so many differing 'definitive' views on this. There are some useful thoughts on this site: www.eogen.com/CensusRecordsUK Denis

Denis, I may be wrong but having looked at quite a lot of census returns for both murchant and royal navy ships, all the navy ships census forms have got a space for the captain to enter the location of the ship at the time of the census, the merchant census sheet's also ask's for the location at the time of the census and they are all listed under the county of the port that they are in, Having had a look at the national archives census I cannot find a merchant ship that is listed as being at sea. Roy

What about 1841 Scottish ship?

Hi, He isn't on the census at home in Scotland and i know he enlisted for the Boer War in 1901 in Aldershot in England. Dawn

Hi again Just found the following on the National Archives site: Search 1901 census for a vessel Locate a naval or merchant vessel to see if any of your ancestors were out at sea on the night of March 31st 1901. Person search Address Place Institution Vessel Reference No. Denis

If it was a british naval ship then they will be on a census even if they were at sea or in a port Go to 1901 census, click on Royal Navy, then vessels, then click on, View description of enumeration district for the ship you are looking for and it will tell you were abouts the ship was on the night of the census. Denis, i don't think it works the same for registered merchant ships, registered merchant ships are shown on the county census where they are in port, do the same as above but instead of clicking on Royal Navy, click on the county with a port, then vessels. Roy

Hi, Perhaps I am misunderstanding what's wanted here but I thought that in 1901 the census was taken whether or not the vessel was in port or at sea. This would surely cover all British registered merchant ships. Anyone have any further detail on this? As I recall National Archives has a facility to search by vessel name. Denis

Depends if they were in port or not. There are some records of Naval vessels, and a few fishing vessels. You are unlikely to find migration ships though.

If somebody were on board a ship during the time of the 1901 census would they still of had to fill a census form in. Dawn