Is there any reason a family would not be on a census?

Question:

Is there any reason a family would not be on a census?

I am looking for a family on the 1851 UK census for Hampshire. I have found them in All Saints, Southampton, Hampshire for 1841, 1861 and 1871- after then all family members were either dead or out of the country. But even when I go thorough all the census pages individually I can not find this family in the 1851 census. I am having this trouble with a couple of different families. Has anyone got any idea's. I have tried every variation on the names I can think of, I have looked in area's that are not in Hampshire etc.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I find about 19 out of every 20 people I'm looking for in my census images.

In the US, they didn't list the whole family until 1850. before that they listed the head of household and how many women and children lived with him.

If the UK 1851 lists everyone and their ages, these are some things that have helped me. You may have already tried them.

Look for each child and the wife.

Look for the given name without the surname or the surname without the given name. Limit the search by area and age, if you can. I have found some wild, wild spellings of surnames. (In the US we had to deal with the enumerator or enumeratee being drunk, neither being able to spell properly, and the H of H chewing tobacco as he spoke. Sometimes all five at once, in Arkansas.)

Look at the two, four or six families living on each side of your family in 1841 and 1861, then looking for them in 1851. Your family might be next to them in 1851 under name variations you didn't think of.

You might also give it up; I do, after an hour or two. (12, in one case.)