So, my temptation for getting into things in a bit more depth for the 19th century is to sign up to Ancestry dot come for a month or two, and use that as a starting point for census records etc.
Is that a good idea, or is there a better approach?
Depends on where you need to search. You might want to try looking on https://familysearch.org. It's free and run by the LDS. Family history is a huge part of their belief system and they have one of the largest archives in the United States.
I was poking around on FamilySearch for some of my stuff and did see that they do have a solid collection of UK census records, and their research wiki is a solidly useful tool for anyone doing family research: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Main_Page
Decent chance that parish records will be invaluable the further back you go. Oh, and from a "don't make my mistakes", keep a research log. I've not done so consistently and I regret it.
Principles should translate. In your shoes I'd start with the most recent lot and work my way backwards, sticking to locally available records. I need to double check UK repositories but there might be better and/or free options for you.
Comments
Is that a good idea, or is there a better approach?
Is it best to do broad searches first, or deep?
For census records, what area are you looking in?
I’m guessing that principles translate though,