Introduction

The fifth national census of the population of Great Britain took place on 3 April 1881. It aimed to record key information about every individual living in this country including where they were living, their age, occupation and where they were born.

This Report

Research was undertaken in 2020/21 into this census for the purpose of identifying and recording every waterman plying his trade on Yorkshire’s canals and rivers. A summary of the findings can be found on this website at Yorkshire’s Watermen in the 1881 Census.

This report, Watermen Ashore in the 1881 Census lists every waterman found in a household in the census. Each record notes who else was in the household. The report is sorted into ascending surname order and contains 1,300 entries.

Moving around the report

We recommend that you view the report in full screen mode which you switch on by clicking the little button with four arrows. It states Toggle Fullscreen when you hover your cursor over it.

Navigate through the pages of the report by pressing the white arrows to the left and right of the screen. To leave full screen mode press Esc on your keyboard. Enlarge or reduce the report size by clicking on the + or – buttons.

You can search for a particular name of a person or vessel using the search facility, indicated by the little magnifying glass.

Finally, our website has to do a lot of work to bring you these documents, so please be patient as it focuses the display for your enjoyment.