HISTORIANS have welcomed a move to make Dorset’s 1911 census available – three years ahead of schedule.

The records, which were not due until 2012, will be a key resource for county residents trying to trace their family trees.

Notable records include Thomas Hardy’s census page from Dorchester.

The census is being released this year because of public demand – and county historians have applauded the decision.

The records are being made available by family history website findmypast.com, in association with The National Archives.

The 1911 census – taken on Sunday, April 2 – saw 36 million people recorded from across England, Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

Those aboard Royal Naval vessels at sea and in foreign ports and British Army personnel and their families in military establishments overseas were also included.

It was the most detailed census since British records began at the time and is now being made available, complete with our ancestors’ own handwriting, nearly 100 years on.

Records of the 220,494 people living in Dorset in 1911 – or Dorsetshire, as it was then known – will be released on www.1911census.co.uk from today.

David Lane, programme manager of the South Dorset branch of the Somerset and Dorset Family History Society, welcomed the move.

He said: “The fact they’re releasing it three years early is great news for family historians.

“People will be able to find out lots about their parents and their grandparents. I had a look at a test version of the website and found my mother, who was six at the time.

“I’m sure it will be inundated by millions of visitors. People are going to find this very useful indeed.

“It’s great because although lots of people already know details about their family from 100 years ago, you often still find surprises.”

The census page for Thomas Hardy lists him living at Max Gate, near Dorchester, with wife Emma. Hardy is recorded as being 70 years of age and his wife is 68. His occupation is listed as ‘author books’.

Also living with them were servants Daisy King, 19, and Gertude King, aged 18.

Weymouth Museum collection manager Barrie Wiggins said: “We’re definitely welcoming this census.

“We get a steady stream of queries from people trying to trace their family histories, from Dorset and across the world. There’s a real public demand for this, and it’s really growing in popularity.”

The 1911 team worked around the clock for two years, scanning on average one census per second, to make the early release possible.

National Archives director of customer and business development Oliver Morley added: “This is a major achievement. We are bringing history to life for millions.

“The 1911 census is a poignant reflection of how different life was in early 20th century Britain, before the Great War.”