Amateur historians will be able to scour this vast resource as the Public Record Office (PRO) makes the entire 1901 census for England and Wales available online at www.census.pro.gov.uk.

The PRO said for the first time those seeking details of their ancestors will have access to a database of over 32 million people. These can be searched by a name, address, institution, vessel or place, the PRO said on its website.

The Queen Mother, Charlie Chaplin, Florence Nightingale and J.R.R. Tolkien are among the Edwardians whose details are recorded on the census.

The PRO has doubled its computer servers to cope with the expected increase in demand.

Spokeswoman Alison Webster told the Times: "We hope the online census will appeal to the increasing number of young people who come to us wanting to find out more about their grandparents or great-grandparents. People are also fascinated to find out who used to live in their house."

(Reuters:UK - 23:01  1 Jan 2002)
 

Jan 2, 2002 4:40 PM PT U.K. publishes 1901 census site Modern technology is giving Britons a glimpse of life at the turn of the last century with the online publication of the national census for 1901. Doomed Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott, silent-movie actor Charlie Chaplin, nurse Florence Nightingale and "The Lord of the Rings" author J.R.R Tolkien are among notable citizens whose details are recorded on the census. Project manager Alison Webster said census returns for England and Wales were the Public Record Office's most popular documents. By midmorning Wednesday, the site was temporarily unavailable because of heavy demand. The Public Records Office has already begun work on building a similar site for the 1891 census, which is expected to be available to the public next year, she said. Story Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.