The Little Book of Family History by Chris Mason

Author:Chris Mason [Mason, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: G2 Rights Ltd
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

*A man taking a census entry, 1871.

During the nineteenth century, those in power wanted to know as much as possible about the population so that they could plan for the future. It is unlikely that anyone thought about the possibility of their descendants checking up on what they had told the census man many decades earlier and they would certainly not have envisaged amateur genealogists winding their way though rolls of microfilm, studying microfiche or looking up their details on a machine called a computer.

As with all historical listings, the census returns are not complete. Although most of the records have survived, not everyone was listed. Some people, for reasons of their own, were determined not to be located or counted and some were missed off accidentally. Masters and mistresses of households occasionally considered that the lower orders were not worth listing, so poor old Edith the scullery maid may have been omitted. When consulting census returns, it is also important to remember that the people listed were at the address in question on the night designated as Census Night. It did not have to be their permanent address, so if great aunt Hilda happened to be staying with her sister up the road on the night in question, she would be recorded at her sister’s address.

1841

The census of 1841 is the earliest one to be of any real use to the family historian, as it has names, locations, approximate ages and occupations. Nonetheless, the details are fairly sparse: It seems that, as ever, people were suspicious of officialdom and it was not considered appropriate for the census enumerator to delve too deeply into people’s affairs.

An 1841 census return has the following headings:

Place

Houses – ‘occupied’ or ‘unoccupied’

Names ‘of each Person who abode therein the preceding night.’

Age and Sex

Profession, Trade, Employment, or of Independent Means.

Where Born – ‘Whether Born in the same County’ and ‘Whether Born in Scotland, Ireland, or Foreign Parts’

In the 1841 census, the address noted was often remarkably imprecise: sometimes simply the name of the village, or of the street, was recorded. As far as names were concerned, middle names or initials went unrecorded. Ages too were mainly imprecise: The ages of people under 16 were accurately recorded, but the census enumerators were told to round down the ages of everyone else to the nearest five years, so that, for example, someone aged 24 would be recorded as being 20. This seemingly bizarre instruction was thankfully ignored by a few enumerators, but this was Victorian England so most naturally did as they were told.

When studying one’s family history, it is very important not to make assumptions. For example, in the census of 1841, no relationships are noted, so you may well assume that all the younger people in the household who bear the same surname are the children of the two recorded adults. This may not of course be so, as they could be nephews or nieces, or even grandchildren. The good news is that later censuses have a column for relationships.

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