LONDON (voa) – Britain’s 1901 national census has made its online debut with crashing success – the high demand caused the site to shut down earlier Wednesday.
Britain’s Public Records Office, which took two years to develop the site, says measures are in place to increase the system’s capacity.
Information on the site comes from a census taken on March 31, 1901. It marks the first time English and Welsh census returns are available online.
The census contains background information on about 32 million people, including actor Charlie Chaplin and Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien. Details include age and place of birth.
Site visitors can view images of the original pages written by the census takers. The Public Records Office has begun work on building a similar site for the 1891 census.
