Here, you can see what can be done using the data available to download in the download section.
Below is the census information for the Nowill family, the first column represents name, the second "relation to head of family", the third is "marital status" (if they are married or not). The fourth is sex, the fifth is age and the sixth is occupation. The seventh and eight are county and town of birth.
1851
| Henry Nowill | Head | M | M | 31 | Cutlery Manufacturer | Yorks | Sheffield |
| Margret | Wife | M | F | 31 | House wife | do | do |
| Frank | Son | U | M | 8 | Scholar | do | do |
| Fanny | Dau | U | F | 5 | do | do | do |
| Harrison | Son | U | M | 3 | n\a | do | do |
| Walter John | Son | U | M | 1 | n\a | do | do |
| Sarah Batty | Servant | U | F | 18 | House Servant | Cheshire | thats all she knows |
By looking at the above table, we can see that their are 6 members of the Nowill family. Henry, the father, Margret, the mother, and 4 children, Frank, Fanny, Harrison and Walter John. The family has one servant, Sarah Batty, who for some reason doesn't know where she comes from.
1871
| Henry Nowill | Head | M | M | 51 | Cutlery Manufr | Yorks | Sheffield |
| Margret | Wife | M | F | 51 | Cutlery Manufr Wife | do | do |
| Harrison | Son | M | M | 23 | Electro Plater | do | do |
| Mary Ann | Dau in law | M | F | 23 | House wife | do | do |
| Leonard | Son | U | M | 18 | Electro Plater | do | do |
| Ellen Hilda | Grand Dau | U | F | 3 Mo | n\a | do | do |
Here is the Nowill data from 20 yrs on, 1871. The changes are evident. Frank, Fanny and Walter John have all left home, while Harrison, who was only 3 when we last saw him, now has married someone called Mary Ann. Also there have been 2 births, one in 1853 when Henry and Margret had a son called Leonard, while Harrison and Mary Ann have had a baby, a girl called Ellen Hilda.
We can also see how the occupations change over the years. In 1851, Henry Nowill was a cutlery manufacturer, but 20 years later, his children are all electro-platers. In the early 1850's, when his children would have been made apprentices, electro-plating was a relatively new thing, as the battery had only been invented in 1800. Electro-plating was invented in Birmingham, and was first used in Sheffield in 1843 by John Harrison. Electro-plating destroyed the Old Sheffield Plate industry, because it could produce far more complex products with comparatively unskilled workers, unlike Old Sheffield Plate, which required people who spent years learning the tricks of the trade. This meant the highly skilled Old Sheffield Plate workers were no longer needed and so put many people out of jobs. It seems that Henry Nowill saw this and wanted to get his children into a job that would last, and it has. The electro-plate industry is still working today, making everything from parts of car engines to watch cases.