The 1871 census began on 2 April 1871. Columns on the return were as follows:
Numbered in the order of visitation by the enumerator
- Column 1 – A count of the vessels
- Column 2 – A count of the shanties
- Column 3 – A count of the houses in construction
- Column 4 – A count of the house uninhabited
- Column 5 – A count of the houses inhabited
- Column 6 – A count of the family or household
Personal details
- Column 7 – Names (last name, first name)
- Column 8 – Sex
- Column 9 – Age at last birthday (for those under one year of age, fractions were used, such as 4/12 for four months)
- Column 10 – Born within last twelve months (month of birth for infants whose names were entered in column 7 and who were still alive)
- Column 11 – Country or province of birth
- Column 12 – Religion
- Column 13 – Origin
- Column 14 – Profession, occupation, or trade (sons following their fathers in occupation/profession, and where associated with them, the same description was included; for women, unless they had a definite occupation outside their household, the column was marked with a dash)
- Column 15 – Married or widowed
- Column 16 – Married within the last twelve months (the month of marriage was recorded under the husband’s name with ditto marks (‘’) used for the wife)
Instruction
- Column 17 – Going to school
- Column 18 – Over 20 years of age and unable to read
- Column 19 – Over 20 years of age and unable to write
Infirmities -- the infirmity would have needed to reach the stage of incapacity to be noted
- Column 20 – Deaf and dumb
- Column 21 – Blind
- Column 22 – Unsound mind
- Column 23 – Dates of operations and remarks (comments were rare and used only for very special cases; this is also where the enumerator entered the day’s date)