1921 Census North Queensferry

Summary

The 1921 census was due to be taken on 24 April; however, due to industrial unrest it was postponed until Sunday 19 June.

The population of Scotland in 1921 was 4,882,497.

The Census Act 1920 came in to effect before the 1921 census and is still the primary legislation for the delivery of the census in Scotland, England and Wales. The Act dealt with the provision of funds for the census to be undertaken, penalties for those who did not complete it and also allowed for a census to be taken every five years.

The 1921 Scottish census records are the enumeration books which contain information transcribed from the household schedules, as with all previous censuses. The schedules were destroyed after the work on the census was completed.

The cover of a Scottish Enumeration Book

The 1921 England and Wales census records are the original household schedules, completed by the head of the household. The England and Wales census was also delayed until Sunday 19 June.

Due to the summer date of the 1921 census, mass displacement of the population occurred as people travelled from their usual residences to holiday destinations across Scotland and the wider UK.

1921 Census Questions

The impact of the First World War and the Great Influenza epidemic, commonly referred to as the ‘Spanish Flu’, were reflected in changes to the questions asked in the 1921 census.

New questions relating to the population of young people were introduced: the number of orphans living at each address were surveyed for the first time and asked whether the father, mother or both parents were deceased the number of dependent children.
For the first time, a question was asked on whether a marriage had been ‘dissolved by Divorce’.

The question on infirmity was removed, but a new question asking whether individuals were eligible for benefit under the National Insurance Act 1911 was included. This was introduced to help calculate sick pay and unemployment in some industries.

Information regarding an individual’s place of work and details of their employer were also asked in the Scottish 1921 census.

Example page

Each enumeration book included a clear “copperplate” example. (Actual records were not so legible!)

As the records are spread across two pages, please scroll this image to see both pages of entries.

The 1911 column headings are:

No. of Schedule
Road, Street, etc, and No. or Name of House
Number of Rooms and Persons in the House
Number of Rooms and Persons in the Holding (i.e. any sub-let rooms)
Name and Surname of each person
Relation to Head of Family
Age in Years and Months
Sex
Condition – (Marriage if older than 15) – Single, Married or Widowed. (Orphanhood if younger than 15) – Both Parents Alive, Father Dead, Mother Dead, Both Dead
Birthplace – Town and County
Nationality – if born in a foreign country
Gaelic or G&E – i.e speaking only Gaelic, or Gaelic and English
Personal Occupation
Employment
Status – Employer, Working in Own Account, Working, Out of Work, Retired
National Health Insurance – Male or Female coverage
Total Number of Dependent Children (under 15)
Number of Dependent Children by age

Instructions to Enumerators

This page shows the instructions given to the enumerators about what information to include in each column, and allowable abbreviations.

North Queensferry in the 1921 census

North Queensferry peninsula was part of Inverkeithing Parish in 1921. The census records are contained in two books.

Enumeration District number 432, Book VI

“That part of the Parish lying to the South of the Inverkeithing Inner Bay, bounded on the East and West by the Firth of Forth, extending Southward to the Carlingnose Farm, and thence by a line crossing the Road under the Forth Bridge Railway to a part of the road leading from North Queensferry to Inverkeithing, immediately to the North of North Cliff Lodge thence to the lands of St Margaret’s embracing the whole of these lands and houses, and again following the said Road to the Ferry Old Toll House.”

“This district includes the houses at Saltpans, Shamrock Terrace, The Village of Jamestown, Forth View, Cruicks and Cruickness, the houses known as the “Cliff”, “Garthhill”, all the houses on the Ferryhills, including the Station Master’s House, the Railway Station, the new School, Carlingnose Fort, Carlingnose Farm and farm house, the Government Property at Port Laing, the Estate of St Margaret’s, Garthmohr, Ladywell house and cottage and the Ferry Toll house.”

There are fifteen pages of entries in Book VI

Enumeration District number 432, Book VII

“The remaining part of the Parish, bounded on the North by the immediately preceding Enumeration District No VI and on the South, East, and West by the Firth of Forth.”

This District includes the village of North Queensferry, Priory Cottage, Carling Cottage, the Schoolhouse, the house known as North Cliff including the Lodge Craigdhu, Fernbank, The Hope, Ferrybarns, Ferry Craig, the Battery Houses and Air Station Huts

(Note by Enumerator – Enumeration District taken in “Survey” order. Beginning at the Railway Station, (Carling Cottages) down The Brae, turning to right taking North Cliff on the way, FerryBarns rd, and from thence, eastward – Air Station Huts, Craigdhu etc, into Main Street of Village including all terraces, on to Pierhead, back to Main Street, turning down to the right, Battery Road, Bridge Terrace, back to Main Street, down Post Office Lane, to quarry houses called Brunstone Building, returning and finishing via Helen Place and houses forming a square called Chapel Place round the old Church Yard.)

There are twenty seven pages of entries in Book VI

House Numbers

The 1921 census includes house numbers in a few village streets – Brunstone’s Buildings, Pierhead Buildings, Bridge Terrace . . .

But these are not universal! I have used “house letters” – a, b, c etc – to identify individual houses (i.e with individual census reference numbers) which share the same street or building name. E.g. a Shamrock Terrace Jamestown, b Shamrock Terrace Jamestown, c Shamrock Terrace Jamestown.

Transcriptions

We transcribed the original records into tables, with the following columns:

L	Sch	No	Address	R1	P1	R2	P2	Name	Init	Surname	Relation	Y	M	>Sex	M O	County	Town		Nat	G/E	Personal Occupation	W?	Employment	NHI	Dep	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	L
1	1		Park Cottage, Jamestown	3	5	3	5	Joseph		Callaghan	Head	45	0	M	W	Donegal	Donaghmor				Joiner (Chargeman)	W	Admiralty (Rosyth Dockyard)	M	2						1			1								1

L(ine)
Sch(edule)
No – House number (or letter see note above)
Address
R1 – Number of Rooms in House
P1 – Number of Persons in House
R2 – Number of Rooms in Holding
P2 – Number of Persons in Holding
Name
Init(ials)
Surname
Relationship (to Head)
Y(ears Age)
M onths Age)
Sex
M O – Married status if older than 15 – S(ingle), M(arried) or W(idowed). (Orphanhood if younger than 15) – B(oth Parents) A(live), F(ather) D(ead), M(other) D(ead), B(oth) D(ead).
Town – of Birth
County – of Birth
Nat(ionality) – if born in a foreign country
G/E – Gaelic or Gaelic and English
Personal Occupation
Employment
W? Status of Employment – E(mployer), OA – Working in O(wn) A(ccount), W – W(orking), OW – O(ut of) W(ork), Ret(ired)
NHI – National Health Insurance – Male or Female coverage
Dep – Total Number of Dependent Children (under 15)
0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15 – ages of dependent children from 0 (under 1) to 15
L(ine) – repeated at the end to keep things on track!

Scrolling

The census records from 1841 through to 1901 were all on one sheet per page. However the 1911 and 1921 records are spread across two pages.

L	Sch	No	Address	R1	P1	R2	P2	Name	Init	Surname	Relation	Y	M	>Sex	M O	County	Town		Nat	G/E	Personal Occupation	W?	Employment	NHI	Dep	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	L
1	1		Park Cottage, Jamestown	3	5	3	5	Joseph		Callaghan	Head	45	0	M	W	Donegal	Donaghmor				Joiner (Chargeman)	W	Admiralty (Rosyth Dockyard)	M	2						1			1								1

As you an see, shrinking them to fit on one screen makes the font size very small, so I have used scrolling tables and images to make the text legible.

Here is an example

Example Scrolling Table

Scroll to view the entire table

You can use the “scroll bars” beneath the table to scroll left and right.

Drag Scroll

On a PC or laptop, when you place your mouse pointer over the table, the mouse pointer will change to a hand symbol

If you hold down the left mouse button, the mouse pointer will change to a grabbing hand and you can scroll the table / image by moving the mouse.

On a tablet or smartphone, just use your finger to drag the table or image to left and right!

Line

Sch

Address

Name

Init

Surname

Relation

Sex

M O

County

Town

Nat

G/E

Personal Occupation

Employment

NHI

Dep

Line

Park Cottage, Jamestown

Joseph

Callaghan

Head

Donegal

Donaghmor

Joiner (Chargeman)

Admiralty (Rosyth Dockyard)

Park Cottage, Jamestown

Moira

Callaghan

Daughter

Fife

Inverkeithing

Scholar

Park Cottage, Jamestown

Eric

Callaghan

Son

Fife

Inverkeithing

Scholar

Navigation

You can use the links below, and the “NEXT >” “<PREVIOUS” links at the top and bottom of each page to navigate through the individual census pages, or use the Census Search to identify individuals across multiple years.

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South

Book 6 (North) Page 1 >