Did you get yours today?

Census form I mean. Mine came crashing through the door this morning and I'm sure it cracked the quarry tiles because of the weight of it. I opened, read through the questions, which took me some considerable time and wondered exactly how relevant the information they were asking for was to anyone.

Do I care for someone and if so how many hours a week? Is this so the government can tot up exactly how many millions they are saving with unpaid carers?

How would I describe my national identity? I had a Geordie mother, I have a Cockney father, I was born in Singapore, my brother was born in Wales, two of my lads were born in Shrewsbury and my youngest was born in Birmingham. Am I English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish, British or other.... might have to think about that one.

And question 17 is brilliant. 'This question is intentionally left blank - Go to 18.' WHY? What happened to question 17 couldn't someone come up with anything for that and why question 17, why not 18 or 19 or leave out 20? Perhaps they're trying to catch us out.

34 asks what is(was) your full and specific job title? They give examples so you could write District Nurse (example given) and in 37, which asks 'at your workplace, what is (was) the main activity of your employer or business' you could reply computer sevicing (example given) and you probably wouldn't be far wrong.

And 41 is lovely, 'how do you usually travel to work?' Flying carpet isn't mentioned but just about everything else is, including 'on foot.'

By the time I've finished filling it out for four of us, I won't be able to hold a pen for a week.

What I do find interesting though is how things on the census have changed. As someone who finds their dead relatives a lot less hassle than their living ones, I've spent hours peering at census reports looking for my ancestors. In 1841 my ancestor Benjamin Horder didn't have a great big booklet with guidence notes come crashing through his door, instead someone who could read and write knocked at his door and asked him his name, his age (which incidentally is incorrect), his occupation and was he born in the county. The man then asked about his wife Sarah and finally his son John, then he probably bade him a good evening and moved onto the next house.

However by 1851 things moved on a bit and they wanted to know a little more but accuracy was obviously not an issue because according to the 1851 census my ancestor was called Benjamin Hardon. But they did want to know his name, his age, relationship to the head of the family, his condition (as to marriage), his occupation, where he was born and whether or not he was blind or deaf and dumb.

Was this the conception of 'big brother?'

Benjamin died in 1853 so he doesn't appear again but I looked at another ancestor, John Starling, from Worstead in Norfolk and found that the questions in the 1861 census were the same as the 1851 census but what is fascinating for me is it was John Starling (pictured left)  who actually did the knocking on the door and writing on the census forms.

1871 however, one question in particular has changed. Instead of asking whether or not people were blind or deaf and dumb they probe a little deeper and not only ask about blindness and deaf and dumb but they ask if the person is an imbecile or an idiot or whether or not they're a lunatic. Wouldn't that be interesting on today's census form?

By 1891 the powers that be wanted to know a little more. They wanted to know if the person was an employer, an employee or a person working on their own account as well as whether or not they were an idiot, imbecile or a lunatic.

And 1901 they wanted to know if you worked from and included in the list of disabilities 'feeble minded.' I wonder how many wives wished they'd answered the door that night. Again though accuracy was not an issue or the man taking the information was a little deaf. I looked at my great grandfather and found that his name was written down as James Masington Starling and not James Massingham Starling. It also made me smile because whoever took the census that night had an ink stamp with Newcastle upon Tyne on it which he used for everyone born in Newcastle but because James Starling was born in Norfolk, he had to hand write Norfolk.

The 1911 census many more questions were asked, particularly regarding the family. They wanted to know how long the current marriage had lasted. How many children had been born alive, how many children were still living and just to make sure the numbers added up the wanted to know how many children had died. Personally I think that is a very intrusive question and I'm grateful it's not on today's census.

However, there was another interesting addition which shows that world was beginning to shrink. Under birthplace they specifically ask whether or not the person was born in the United Kingdom, the British Empire, a foreign country or at sea. They also wanted to know whether or not they were a visitor or a resident and in the case of those born in a foreign country whether or not they were a British subject by parentage, a naturalised British subject and year of naturalisation or if a foreign subject what nationality they were.

But they didn't forget about the blind, deaf and dumb or the lunatics, imbeciles and feebleminded, they added 'at what age did they become afflicted?' But there was good news for the idiots - they no longer had to declare it.

All census records from 1841 to 1911 can be viewed on line. The law currently states that census records must be kept for a hundred years before they're released but with increasing pressure from genealogists that law may be changed. In America the law is different and there are more up to date records available, I wonder if in my lifetime I'll be able to read the 1971 census that my Mum completed all those years ago.

And remember when you fill yours in - your descendents will be able to find out a hell of a lot about you. Perhaps next time, we'll be asked to supply photographs, oh and our inside leg measurements.