Contemporary and Historical Census Collections (CHCC)

Accessing CHCC

If you have registered you can access CHCC here.

About CHCC

The Collection of Historical and Contemporary Census Data and Related Materials (CHCC) is a JISC funded teaching and learning resource, which has improved accessibility to primary census resources, developed an integrated set of learning and teaching materials and and enhanced awareness about the contexts in which census data can be used in learning and teaching. The project was led by MIMAS, and other partners were the Leeds School of Geography, the Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research, the History Data Service), the LTSN Subject Centre for History, Classics and Archaeology and the UK Data Archive.

History Data Service's Contribution to CHCC

Individual Level Demographic Data

The History Data Service) contribution to the CHCC project includes individual-level demographic data from the manuscript census enumerators' books. At its heart is a complete transcription of the 1881 census enumerators' books for England and Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, accounting for some 26 million individuals. These data, originally transcribed and published by the Genealogical Society of Utah (and available to the non-HE/FE community from Church of Latter Day Saints) have been enriched, enhanced and geographically standardised. Allied to this dataset is version of a national sample of the 1851 census enumerators' books for Great Britain (not presently available), which was created by Professor Michael Anderson and his colleagues at the University of Edinburgh during the 1970s and 1980s, and enhanced and enriched at the University of Essex over the last few years. This two per cent sample contains some 400,000 individual level records. Both datasets provides information about the name, address, relationship to the head of household, marital status, age, occupation, birthplace and disabilities of millions of individuals, as well as a large group of derived demographic variables.

Aggregate Level Demographic Data

The Historical Censuses Collection also includes two major collections of aggregate-level demographic data - the Great Britain Historical Database and the Database of Welsh Historical Statistics. These aggregate-level demographic data cover a wide range of statistical tables from the published census reports.

Other Census data

The History Data Service also holds a range of other historical census data. These have not been included within the CHCC collection because they are not strictly speaking comparable. View the census enumerators' books web page for a complete list of these other data and details on how to obtain them.