By Sarah Williams

Published: Thursday, 06 January 2022 at 12:00 am

---

The 1921 census for England and Wales can only be viewed via Findmypast.co.uk. However, although you will need to register with the website to access 1921 census records, they are not part of a subscription package so you do not need to subscribe.

Record transcripts for the 1921 census cost £2.50 to view and original record images cost £3.50. Pro subscribers to Findmypast get a 10% discount. If you are planning to access the census many times and you are considering taking out a subscription, you can read more about what a pro subscription package to Findmypast offers in our guide to subscription websites.

It is possible to book a slot to view the 1921 census for free at three hubs: The National Archives in Kew; Manchester Central Library and the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth but demand is expected to be high.

The 1921 census for Scotland will be released later in the year.

To view 1921 census records online for England and Wales, follow these simple steps:

1. Go to Findmypast.co.uk

Go to findmypast.co.uk and on the home page click on ‘The 1921 Census is Here’.

2. Enter in the details of the person or house you are looking for

Here we are looking for the Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle (see a photo of him with his family above). Click on ‘Advanced search’ if there are too many results or if you want more search options e.g. place of birth or occupation. You can also choose to search by address which is useful if you want to discover who was living in your house in 1921.

3. Sign up for a free account to see the initial search results

 

If you don’t already have an account with Findmypast, you will need to register at this stage. You can also opt to ‘Continue with Facebook’ if you have a Facebook account.

4. View free search results for 1921 census

Once you have signed in, you can see the search results. This is all still free at this stage and you can add additional filters to your search using the right-hand panel if you want to reduce results further. The small blue oblong box next to each entry gives you two options, a full record transcription on the left which will cost £2.50 or an image of the original record which will cost £3.50.

5. Pay to access 1921 census record transcription

When you click on the option to buy a transcription, a payment screen pops up on the side and you can pay by credit or debit card or choose PayPal if you have a PayPal account.

6. Read a full transcription of the 1921 census record

 

If you buy a 1921 census record transcription, you will get a full list of everyone who was in the household as well as a complete transcription of the person’s record. A nice additional touch is that you get a map of where the house was based.

In the example above for Arthur Conan Doyle, you can click on ‘Show 8 more rows’ to see other people who were in his house on census night including servants and visitors. One of the visitors was spiritualist and medium Ada Bassinet visiting from America as well as James Hewitt and Barbara McKenzie who founded the British College of Psychic Science. Perhaps Doyle, a keen believer in spiritualism, was hosting a seance on census night.

7. Download a copy of the original 1921 census record

If you want to see the original 1921 census record, then you need to pay an additional £3.50. Click on ‘Extra materials’ to see any extra pages included in this record. Large households will be recorded on more than one sheet but this is included in the £3.50 fee.

---