ABSTRACT

The main analysis in this book is based on individual census records of the ‘entire’ population of entrepreneurs 1851–1911. This chapter describes the origins of the data, the process of data assembly, and the strengths and limitations of the data. The chapter also describes how census data can be supplemented to include company directors, and how different censuses and other sources with differing information can be aligned over time. The database on which the book is based is itself a major contribution to economic history and entrepreneurship studies; the chapter provides an introduction to the data now deposited at the UKDA, for which the book is the key entry point for subsequent researchers. In addition the chapter summarises how the 1851‘1911 data have been aligned with 1921‘2011 censuses to provide long-term tracking. The aggregate sectors and urban classifications used in the rest of the book also are defined.