The Public Record Office's (PRO) new Web site containing details of the 1901 census has been swamped with people keen to discover more about their past.

Launched this morning, the site provides access to information about 32 million people who lived in the UK a hundred years ago.

The 1901 Census for England and Wales was taken on 31 March 1901. This is the first time that the census has been made available online.

But the site has proved so popular this morning that it has and failed to cope with demand.

The PRO is taking measures to increase capacity, it said.

A notice on the PRO's Web site reads: "The demand [for the 1901 Census Online service] has been so great since the service went live that the site is currently busy. We apologise to new users trying to access this increasingly popular site and advise you to keep trying.

A spokesman for the PRO told The Register that the site was suffering a few "teething troubles" but urged people to keep trying. ®