Census information question?

Question:on the 1871 census my relation is listed as "head", then there is his daughter then a woman with a different surname listed as "inmate"....what does this mean?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: on the 1871 census my relation is listed as "head", then there is his daughter then a woman with a different surname listed as "inmate"....what does this mean?

He probably ran a house - workhouse etc or it could of been his servant which was on loan from the workhouse - there are several possiblities but the main one would be she was on loan from the workhouse

I do not know about Euopean census records. On American census records "inmate" would mean that the person is a prisoner; is in jail or prison. However, I gather from the way you described the details, that would not be the case here. If I had to guess based on what you posted here, I would think it meant a "boarder"......someone who is not a blood relative of the family but is living there......renting a room there.

Your ancestor may have been in charge of an institution of some sort - workhouse, asylum, house of correction etc. What is in the census as his profession?

What was the address? It is most likely to be some kind of Institution. In the UK all the occupants of a workhouse or other institution were listed together with the "important" people first, and the inmates, prisoners or whatever in a long list after. If this is so check the next census pages as there should be more inmates shown. If there is only the one, you have got a nice little mystery to solve! (Unless the word is actually "in-law"?)

Additional - I forgot to ask - are you looking at the actual sheet or one of the Census Indexes? If it is the latter, email me the deatils and I will check the actual sheet for you!

Could be a boarder, like Violet says. Compairing the age with the daughter may disclose referrance to a school-mate who lives there out of convenience or if older boarder might be a maid/housekeeper or possibily mother-in-law.

Inmate would mean that your relative was the Head of a institution such as Hospital, Workhouse or a Goal etc.

It is probably a workhouse or similar institution. Can you tell from the address as workhouses normally have a separate reference number. Also his occupation may give you a better clue.