Here are a couple of ways the census data can muck you about:
Taking ages from the 1841 census
The 1841 UK census was the first really well organised universal census. Forms were delivered to all households and either completed by the homeowner or (in the case of most of our illiterate agricultural labouring rellos) filled in by the census enumerator. The forms were then transcribed into lists, and the originals chucked away. To make things easier they rounded everyone's ages down to the nearest 5 years if they were over 15 - except for the enumerators who went rogue and put down the person's actual age.
People lying about stuff
My mother in law's Fricker family of Timsbury, Wiltshire (originally from Mere) had an extra son in the 1871 census:
A keen eye will see that Frederick James Fricker was born when his mum was 50. The next census in 1881 finds him recorded as their illegitimate grandson, and they've decided to reverse his first names to muck everyone about:
It's interesting that they either lied or failed to explain in 1871, because illegitimacy was a bit of a family tradition - James Fricker was the son of Mary Fricker, a pauper, and an unknown man, while Lydia Dodington or Dorrington was the daughter of Jerome Gatehouse and (probably) Mary Dorrington - this may be the same Jerome shown working as a weaver and living with Mary in 1841 (note unhelpful ages).
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