Soldiers in the Census

[centurion]

Were soldiers not included in the censuses being away from home? Or did they appear under were they were barracked or billeted?

[Tom Morgan]

They would have been included in the returns for their barracks/army accommodation, and not at their home addresses.

Tom

[David_Underdown]

They should appear where they were billetted or barracked - they do seem to be hard to track down though. In 1911 even those posted overseas are included, but those in Ireland are on the separate Irish 1911 census (available free online from the National Archives of Ireland). With the Irish census I have been given to understand that many soldiers are listed only by initials (including last name as an initial only), so they can be hard to track down. I'd imagine that units based in Scotland will likewise appear only on the Scottish census (1911 not yet available).

For the overseas military in particular, in can be helpful to do a catalogue search within RG 14 on the TNA website, this for example turns up 2nd Battalion East Surrey Regiment in RG 14/34979 - you can then enter this as a search term on the 1911 census website and pull back all the returns related to just this battalion.

[SteveE]

As I understand it...

Upto and including 1901 census the soldiers were not recorded if they were overseas, if they were stationed at home then they appeared wherever they were billeted/barracked/on leave etc.

The 1911 census was the first to include soldiers serving overseas wherever they were stationed.

Regards

Steve

[Nigel Marshall]

Here is an example of what David mentioned with regard to soldiers on the Irish 1911 Census.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai001857428/

Cheers,

Nigel