The first column lists the No. of Householder's Schedule. This is not the number of the property. It is a number which relates to the order in which the various lists and schedules were written up.

The second column lists the name of the street or house.

The third column is the same as in the previous census, with the addition of the date and year.

The fourth column is an additional one, and is most important. This lists the relation to the head of the family, and tells us who is the wife, daughter, son, brother, sister, etc.

The fifth column, headed Condition is a new addition. It lists whether the person was married or unmarried.

The Sixth column, listing Age and sex is still the same.

The seventh column, listing Rank, Profession, or Occupation is unchanged.

The eighth column remains unchanged, except that the county and the area where born are stated.

The ninth column is an additional one, listing whether a person is blind or Deaf-and-dumb'.

This census is extremely useful when researching your family tree as it includes the place of birth. As with all the census returns from 1841 onwards, the age of a person is given, so it’s an easy calculation to determine when they were born. At that time, some did not know their correct age or year of birth, and others lied about their age. Because of these inaccuracies, ages can vary from what’s expected, when comparing the different returns.

In the Wolverhampton archives, there is a list of the surnames of all people living in Wolverhampton, and the surrounding areas, in 1851. Every male and female is listed alphabetically, and with some surnames there are a lot of entries to look through. Each has a number by its side, which gives the number of the film, page, and area where the person is listed.