1901 Irish census: why are British armed forces not named?

Rebelheart

I've just noticed this in looking at the 1901 census. Take, for instance, Boyle town where those in the town's British Army barracks are given initials (type in 'Boyle' in parish) but not names despite everybody else getting names. Similarly, none of the people in the town's RIC barracks are named, only alluded to by initials (see above link).

Does anybody have any idea why their names would be omitted?

shanew

It's not just serving army people on the census returns that this occurs for, also some RIC, people in asylums, workhouses etc

You can access the full census details, including images of the forms, on the National Archives website : http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/


S.

Corsendonk

Coastguard is named and they were part of the Royal Navy Reserve.

National Archive

Institutional and shipping forms
These forms contain details of the occupants of institutions of different kinds, for example, barracks, workhouses, hospitals, colleges, orphanages etc. In many cases the names of occupants are only given in initial form, ie Mary Smith is entered as M.S. These names are indexed by initial, and hopefully the information in the form itself (county of birth, occupation, marital status) will help to identify the person sought.
The forms are as follows:
Form B3: Shipping return.
Form E: Workhouse return.
Form F: Hospital return.
Form G: College and Boarding-School return.
Form H: Barrack return.
Form I: Return of Idiots and Lunatics in institutions.
Form K: Prison return.
Form C: Return of the sick at their own homes.
Form Return of lunatics and idiots not in institutions

CDfm

The following extract taken from, "A Clearer Sense of the Census" by Edward HIGGS. Publ by HMSO 1996 ISBN 0 11 440257 4

(page37 - The enumeration of the Army)
"Soldiers in barracks in England and Wales were always enumerated in the same manner as the inmates of other institutions. Small barracks were treated as private households to be enumerated by the oridinary enumerator. Barracks large enough to be treated separately were returned in institutional books, marked 'B' for barracks in 1851 and 1861 and possibly other years, by the resident barrack or quarter master........Members of the British Army stationed abroad were never fully enumerated. Instead the military authorities provided the Census Office with information as to the numbers of officers, other ranks, wives and children, either by place or regiment. Nominal information on this considerable body of men and women was never collected as part of the nineteenth-cnetury censuses."

http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-6373.html

So if its British Army it may be that you need to dig deeper

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guide-listing.htm

Judgement Day

Seems strange alright. I was contacted a while back by a distant relative in the USA looking for information about her ancestors and fortunately due to the name being unusual (Protestant) I was able to turn up something very easily. Made even easier by the fact that despite being in the country since 1649 the family rarely moved out of County Wexford/Dublin and her ancestors had come from Cork! Anyway - to come to the point - her ancestor had been an RIC Sergeant based in Blarney and is quite clearly shown as such on the 1911 census. Unsurprisingly he and his family left for the USA in the 1920s.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai001847477/

CDfm

Weren't the census officers back then policemen ?

Now the census is used for planing etc - were there other reasons back then ?