The Historical Statistics Recovery (HSR) initiative began in 2022 in the CSO. The purpose of this initiative is to recover and make accessible high value statistics contained in Irish historical statistical publications. The Census of Ireland, 1911 is the first publication in this initiative where a selection of high value tables are being digitised.
This initiative is driven by volunteers and is led by Eimear Crowley (hsr@cso.ie).
In the 1911 Census, illiteracy was calculated based on those aged 9 years and over who could not read. Prior to the 1911 Census, illiteracy was calculated based on all persons aged five years and over who could not read. For the 1911 Census, it was decided to change this limit to those aged 9 years and over. This change was made to consider irregular school attendance in Irish children at the time and it was decided that it was unreasonable to label a child as illiterate until it had been given the opportunity to learn to read.
Literacy is calculated using statistics provided in Table XXXIII of the 1911 Census. The number and percentage of the population aged 9 years and over who were illiterate are provided in Table XXXIII of the 1911 Census. The literacy rate (%) was calculated by taking the percentage illiterate value from 100.
The Census of Ireland, 1911 was conducted throughout the Island of Ireland. The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 formed the basis urban/rural districts and District Electoral Divisions (DEDs) used in the 1911 Census (also for 1901). These geographic units then formed the basis for local government and political representation. The 1911 Census reports also contain tables disaggregated by parish and townland.
Censuses have been taking place for thousands of years all over the world, with the first known census undertaken nearly 6000 years ago by the Babylonians in 3800 BC. There are records to suggest that this census was undertaken every 6 or 7 years and counted the number of people and livestock, as well as quantities of butter, honey, milk, wool and vegetables.
The most famous historic census like exercise in Europe is the Domesday Book which was undertaken by William the Conqueror in 1086. The Domesday Book has been digitised to preserve its historical value and is available in an accessible way to all.
The Down Survey of Ireland (1656-1658) was undertaken by William Petty with the purpose of transferring land ownership to Cromwellian soldiers and supporters. This census like survey was the first ever detailed land survey on a national scale in the world. The data in this survey has been digitised and is available online.
On the 5th December 1991, Mr Thomas P Linehan, a former director of CSO Ireland, read his paper “History and Development of Irish Censuses” before a meeting of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland (SSISI). The paper provides a historical record of the Census in Ireland.
Table XXXIII from the Census of Ireland, 1911 now has an interactive map enabled for DED level data on PxStat. This map is a digital representation of the DEDs in 1911. It is for display purposes only and legal boundaries past or present cannot and should not be inferred from this map. Taillte Éireann provided information for 26 counties and OpenStreetMap (OSM) provided information for the 6 remaining counties on the island of Ireland in 1911. The CSO made slights amendments to align the Census publication at that time and to incorporate the 6 counties. We would also like to thank Mike Murphy from the Department of Geography, University College Cork who provided a paper map of DEDs on the island of Ireland in 1935. This paper map was used for validation of DED boundaries in the 1911 interactive map.
The digitised map and associated background information has also been made available.
Taillte Éireann provided 1911 boundary maps to the CSO with the following disclaimer: "This cartographic data is a digital representation of the 1911 ED and Poor Law Union datasets. It is for display purposes only and legal boundaries past or present cannot and should not be inferred from this map."
OpenStreetMap shapefiles were provided in accordance with their copyright requirements.
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