Surrey in the 1881 Census

Taken on 3rd April 1881, the census in Surrey collected the following information: full name, exact age, relationship to head of household, gender, occupation, parish and county of birth, medical disabilities.

There were more than 1.4 million people living in Surrey in 1881, making up about 5% of the UK population.

Queen Victoria was the reigning monarch, while William Gladstone was the Prime Minister. The First Boer War ended only weeks before the census.

A severe blizzard hit Surrey in January of 1881, with nine inches of snow reported. More than a hundred people reportedly died nationwide.

In September of the same year, Godalming in Surrey became the first town in the world to have electricity installed in the houses and streets.

The 1881 Census in Surrey has some famous names in among the records.

Perhaps England’s greatest classical music composer Ralph Vaughan Williams can be unearthed in the county. The writer of pieces such as The Lark Ascending is recorded in the census as a young scholar living in Dorking.

Surrey is famous for its cricket, and a number of connections from the County Cricket Club can be found. For example, Charles William Alcock was secretary for them, but it was in football that he made a more lasting contribution. He was the creator of the FA Cup.

To search the 1,400,000 people in Find My Past’s census records from Surrey, just input the information you have about your relatives into our search form and hit search. You can search our records by name, location, birth place, birth year, location and more.

For example, if you have a long-lost family member with the surname Jones who you know lived in the county, just enter Jones in the “Last name” field and Surrey in the “County” field and you’ll get these results .

The original documents will have been given to your ancestors some time in advance before collection on April 3rd. Due to illiteracy and transcription errors, there could be inaccuracies in the records, so make sure to check the original images to validate your findings.

There’s a whole treasure trove of historical finds to seek out from 1881, so start digging and uncover the heroes from your family in Surrey!