"One good thing about the war," my grandfather used to say, "was that the destruction caused by the bombing forced people to rebuild." He recalled the drafty walls and the privy behind the three hundred-year-old stone house where he grew up. Sometimes these everyday details escape us, but with the help of censuses and other genealogical materials we're able to paint a more accurate picture of our ancestors' lives and surroundings.

The British government has taken a census every ten years since 1801- except during the war in 1941. At first the censuses only included statistical information, but by 1841 the government was keeping records of each individual's name, age, gender, marital status, occupation, and place of birth.