This is a census year. Are you excited ? Do you want folks one hundred years hence to learn about your secrets? or do you think it a bit of an intrusion. As an historian I know what a useful tool censuses are for learning about the past. This month, unsurprisingly, I am going to look at the censuses that are now historical documents and part of the tools used in research. Most of us are familiar with being able to find our ancestors in the ten yearly censuses and forget that they were compiled for quite different reasons. Demographers use the censuses not for the personal details, but for the statistics, the rise, fall and distribution of population and all that those numbers imply to daily life , commerce and welfare. So whilst every person and family in the censuses represents a statistic, behind every statistic is a real person living in a certain location. After each census was compiled large volumes with columns and columns of figures and notes were published by the Registrar General. The details of each household has to be kept secret for one hundred years, but the statistics are available for all to see, often with footnotes. So here are various footnotes to different censuses which give an insight into the population of various parts of Yorkshire. This is an example of a footnote from the 1841 report and it is about Ripon. The columns above recorded the numbers of persons male and female, number of houses, number of families, age profile and if born in the County. The footnote for Ripon added the information that there were 17 in the Poor House, 21 in Jepson’s Hospital, 5 in St Mary Magdalen’s Hospital, 11 in Maison Dieu Hospital, 7 in the Debtor’s Gaol, 2 in the Lock-up House, and 12 in the House of Correction, and 21 in vessels and 6 in barns ! So this little insight gives us a picture of Ripon's benevolence, that there were all these Alms Houses, and that there were miscreants locked up and some in boats on the canal.. But let's start a few years before this. It had been obvious that the population was rising during the 18th century, but no one knew by how much. It was also assumed that surplus people were emigrating, but during the Napoleonic Wars there was a real fear that the country would run out of food and not have anough able-bodied men to join the Army and Navy. However, there was strong resistance to counting the people because of King David in the Old Testament. Here he is in a stained glass window by Hans Bernhard (Schnobby) - Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20070737. The First Book of Chronicles chapter 21 tells the story. David counted the people and thought "ah, all these are mine" instead of thinking they belonged to God. Satan stood up against Israel and incited David to count the people. So David said to Joab - "Go number Israel from Beersheba to Dan ...." Joab gave the total count of the people to David .. But God was displeased with this thing and struck Israel. So there was great reluctance to compile a census. Until this man came along. He was John Rickman [1771 - 1840] who organised the first census in 1801, and then every ten years thereafter. He was organising the 1841 census when he died. He argued that Government legislation could be more effective if the size and location of the population was known. Rickman said "No society can confidently pretend to provide the requisite quantity of food, till they know the number of consumers". The first four census were numerical and did not compile names of householders and families. The picture of John Richman is by Samuel Lane - https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palac The counting was done by Anglican clergymen, and from 1801 you sometimes find that the back pages of parish registers have statistics and notes with their workings out. The clergymen were then asked to provide statistics of how many baptisms, marriages and burials were in their parish registers between 1700 and 1800. These statistics were then extrapolated to provide the approximate size of population for the eighteenth century, and if it had risen or fallen. This methodology was continued for the 1811 to 1831 censuses. This is a page from the report on the 1811 census. In Yorkshire the statistics were compiled by wapentake and then parish, with footnotes if there were anomolies and noting if there was a large number of Dissenters who skewed the numbers. The early censuses also required the clergyman to record numbers of houses, numbers of families, and types of occupation. There were surprises. In 1801 the population was about 10 million. This far exceeded any expectations. In our part of the country there were 160,500 in the North Riding, 582,700 in the West Riding and 144,000 in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Counting backwards using Parish Registers it was estimated that in 1700 the population of the three Ridings had been - North 98,600, West 236,700 and East 96,200, indicating the greatest rise in the West Riding in the eighteenth century. In 1801 in the dales, there was 215 inhabited houses in Arkengarthdale housing 225 families, so some houses were in multi-occupancy, but in Marrick there were 102 houses and 102 families. Grinton had a bit of a problem with 80 houses and 120 families, and Hawes in Wensleydale had 263 houses inhabited by 281 families. This type of information may not have been too important in the dales, but it certainly was in urban places where overcrowding led to serious ill health. By 1841 the question was asked whether you were born in the County you lived in or not. In Arkengarthdale out of 1,170 people only 73 had been born somewhere else. This sort of information gives you a feel for what the place would be like. The report on the 1841 census has all sorts of titbits of information in the footnotes. This picture is called The Emigrant Ship and is by Charles Joseph Staniland [1838 - 1916] and is in the Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford. In the footnotes for the report on the 1841 census there are lots of notes that people had emigrated. Bowes lost 10 to migration since the 31st December 1840, Reeth had lost 14. We don't know their names, but sometimes the footnotes specified that they had gone to America. In all sorts of places people were living in tents. This picture is called Gypsy Encampment by William Shayer [1787 - 1879] in the Gloucester Museum. There may have been a variety of people travelling about and camping, itinerant pedlars, drovers, as well as gypsies. In Coverdale there were 6 people in tents at West Scrafton and 8 in Carlton Highdale. This was by no means unusual. Looking at places on the Vale of York, Myton on Swale had 18 people in tents, Huntington had 11. There were even people in tents in the City of York. The parish of St Sampson, right in the centre of the City, had 7 people in tents. Some people were found in sheds. Askham Bryan, near York, had 6 people in sheds. At Egton near Whitby there were 26 people in barns. This is picture is called Old Ouse Bridge, York by G Wilson and is at Fairfax House. Note the boats on the river. In 1841 York had lots of people in barges and boats reminding us that it was a port with access to the sea and inland waterways. There are also many footnotes about work and employment. In 1841 there was a note that the decrease in the population of Leyburn (174) since 1831 was due to the absence of persons in search of employment. In 1851 there was a footnote which said that several people (no number) had moved from Coverdale to Lancashire to look for work after some slate quarries closed at West Scrafton. This is part of the 1851 census for Rawtenstall in Lancashire which recorded the birth places of the Moore family. James came from Wensleydale [Winsidale] and Jane from Coverdale. They had baptised two of their children at Coverham, James in 1834 and Christopher in 1835. James the father was down as a farmer at Swineside, but he may had had a dual occupation. By the time their next child was born in 1841 they were in Lancashire and father James was a labourer on the turnpike road. By 1861 there was a note about the decrease in population at Ravensworth just north of Richmond, that there was migration owing to want of employment. Similarly in that year it was noted that the decrease of population in Gillling West was attributed to a practice adopted by farmers of employing single instead of married men with a view to their residing on the farms. All kinds of events could change the population of a place. This picture is called A Village Fair by John Constable [ 1776 - 1837] at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Fairs could draw in crowds and in 1841 there were 56 strangers in Welburn (to the east of Easingwold) because of the Fair and Acaster Malbis (between York and Tadcaster) was having its village Feast. Tadcaster had an influx of 186 strangers and soldiers. Institutions of various sorts crop up in statistics. The City of York had several Asylums, some private. In 1841 the York Lunatic Asylum contained 1,393 inhabitants. This is a staggering number, some may have been staff, but still a large number. The House of Correction in York had 45 people. There were 53 in the County Hospital and 14 in another private Lunatic Asylum. Heworth was a village outside the City Walls and had a 21 people in a private asylum and there was another private asylum in Clifton with 26 people. The York Herald of 12 March 1842 advertised that the governors of the Asylum needed a physician, there followed in the same column personal advertisemnts from potential candidates soliciting votes. This is an advertisment from the same newspaper for the Heworth Asylum stating that it was in a pleasant and healthy village a mile from York, in a house with a spacious and cheerful aspect. The asylum staff would come and collect patients. Applications to Mr Walker, surgeon or Mr Matterson, surgeon. In the 1841 census there were 37 people at the York Collegiate School, and many schools were mentioned. In the parish of St Maurice in York there were 33 at the Greycoat School and 72 in the Bluecoat School. St Peter's School only had 20. Also in York there was Wilberforce's School for the Blind which had 20 people. This picture is called "Ancient Gateway to the Yorkshire School for the Blind" circa 1840 - 1843 by Francis Belford and is at York City Art Gallery. All kinds of institutions could cause imbalance between males and females in the statistics: barracks, prisons, colleges etc. This is a part of the page for the 1841 census for Scorton near Catterick where there were 68 females in a Carthalic Convent. The footnotes for the statistics for Scorton note - the return for the township of Scorton includes 69 persons in Clare Lodge Convent and 14 persons in barns and tents. There were 69, but 68 of them were women and girls, one was a priest, Richard Kellet. The Poor Clares ran a boarding school for girls for a few years and then moved away, their place taken by the Brothers of the Order of St John. By 1891 the St John of God Hospital in Scorton had over 100 inmates, all male. Between 1851 and 1861 there was not a large increase in population at Ampleforth, but the footnotes recorded The increase of population in the township of Ampleforth is attributed to the presence of a number of workmen engaged in the enlargement of Ampleforth Catholic College. In 1861 there were 81 males at Ampleforth College. So footnotes are not to be overlooked, they help paint the picture that the raw statistics relate. This is the year to be counted, and whatever you feel about giving personal details, your information counts and will be compiled into statistics to keep number crunchers happy for years ahead. There will be analysis of housing, occupations, health provision, movement of populations, all sorts of things, and You Count !
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