Censuses

There are many sources for census from 1841 - 1911. Some on pay per view sites others are free to access. The most obvious free censuses that are are available are the 1881 (Carried out as a joint project between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and Family History Societies). The site is Family Search

There is also FreeCen which can be found at FreeCen  Volunteers are busy indexing censuses from 1841 for England, Scotland and Wales. You can find details of what has been done to date and the present progress being made at FreeCen Statistics  Many family History Societies have also carried out their own indexing and transcribing.

On the North West Kent Family History site there is a free index for 1861 Census: Bromley (Kent) Registration District. The full name and age of each person is given. It covers the parishes of:

Bromley 5422 entries, piece number RG9/463

Chislehurst 2259 entries, piece number RG9/464

Foots Cray 285 entries, piece number RG9/464

St Mary Cray 1463 entries, piece number RG9/464

St Pauls Cray 531 entries, piece number RG9/464

Orpington 1725 entries, piece number RG9/464

If you have ancestors and family in the Bromley area in 1861 it is worth checking to see if they are listed. The Index can be found at Bromley 1861 Census Index

1801 and 1821 censuses for Dartford, Kent.

Though they are rare there are a few earlier censuses where details of the people have been preserved. In most cases it is the head of the households only. The 1801 and 1821 census for Dartford (Kent) parish are among those rare survivals.  In a joint Venture between Kent Family History Society (funded by a donation from Mr. C. Sanham) and Medway Archives they have now been filmed and scanned and are available on CD.

The 1801 for Dartford Parish is very unusual in that each family has the full names, including servants. Relationships are indicated either as 'wife', or for children can be read from the column headed 'Issue'The listing is arranged by location, e.g. 'High Street', then 'Overy Liberty' etc. Occupations are identified, but only as three broad classes as required by the government: these are 'Agriculture', 'Trade etc', or '3rd class' (those not in the other two).

In the 1821 census only heads of household are given, with their occupational class. However, there are the numbers in each household together with their age structure (categorised into 10-year age bands).

Details can be found at Dartford 1801 and 1821 Censuses