Ages at Census

[tonymitch]

I'm sure this has been asked before, but please excuse my 'senior moments', I can't remember the answer.....

Ages on census returns were altered.....can someone please give me a date as to when this practice ceased and also were they rounded 'up' or 'down'?

Anyone know why they were altered?

Thank goodness for a forum such as this one which is for me an intellectual Zimmer Aid.

Tony M

[white]

Hi Tony,
As far as I am aware it only occured on the 1841 census (by intent). In many cases they appear to have been rounded down (in my experience) but often children were given their correct age.
In later censuses ages seem pretty near the truth except when the person did not know.
I suppose it depended on the question asked.
If it was when were you born ?, they probably knew the year.
If it was how old are you?, they could not do the maths.
Other times, like my Grandmother who married a younger man bigamously, she cut her age by 10 years.
Roy

[Cornish Terrier]

The 1841 Census was the only one where there was any 'official' rounding of ages.

The age of adults (i.e. anyone age 15 and over) was only required to the nearest 5 years down.

Here is a quote from some information I have found online at freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~framland/census/1841directions.htm:-

Write the age of every person under 15 years of age as it is stated to you. For persons aged 15 years and
upwards, write the lowest of the term of 5 years within which the age is.

Thus-for Persons aged
15 years and under 20 write 15
20 years and under 25 write 20
25 years and under 30 write 25
30 years and under 35 write 30
35 years and under 40 write 35
40 years and under 45 write 40
45 years and under 50 write 45
50 years and under 55 write 50
55 years and under 60 write 55
60 years and under 65 write 60
65 years and under 70 write 65
70 years and under 75 write 70

And so on up to the greatest ages.

For 1851 and onwards I believe the question was 'age at last birthday'.

CT