Ode to the 1841 census
A talk given to Cambridgeshire FHS
on 26th March 2003
by Wendy DoyleWhat an interesting experience working with the 1841 census has been. No really! I took over from Patricia Gardener rather half heartedly but I have to admit that I was soon hooked. Over the last 2 years I have checked at least the surnames on all of the 1841 for Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely except for St Andrew the Less in Cambridge. I have in addition checked all the names in the 1851 census for Cambridge City – which we have retranscribed, as it was only a partial transcription before.
I’d like to share with you a few of the things which have stood out……..
Firstly as I have mentioned before – the names! I think the boy called Haddock (Christian name) was perhaps the most noteworthy, but I also found boys called Lavender and Fairy; while Olive Branch as a girl’s Christian name must take some beating (I wonder what the parents/ family had done?).
One day (heard that one before?) I would like to study this phenomenon of giving children surnames as Christian names further. It is definitely strongest in the eastern Fenland towns but occurs everywhere in the County- and also strongly in Histon where I live. It also does not seem to follow the standard accepted pattern of being the mother’s maiden name – simply because it can be seen passing from father to son to grandson (although occasionally seen in girls too).
The tradition exists in Histon Parish registers since they began in the 1500s – and continues up the twentieth century with names like Smith, Barrett, Merrington, Patman, Bates…….
Other things of note? The number of households that had someone tagged on the end with "Not Known" for their name. Sometimes this person was even described as a servant – so not just a visitor. What did they call them over the breakfast table? Hey you?
This can be better explained in some farming districts where a number of men would be tagged on the end – sometimes all Irish – and is easily understood when you remember that this census was taken in June – hay making, pea picking and what have you.
The numbers of extra people, the numbers of men away from home and the general busyness of the time of year perhaps ensured that later censuses were taken in March or April.
I don’t think I saw one example of a true copper plate hand. Many were adequate, some unreadable and some downright atrocious! Sometimes the handwriting changes dramatically half way through (I would like to think that the enumerator’s daughter/ wife took over when he had had enough!).
It is sometimes possible to see that enumerators in neighbouring areas attended the same school or at least followed the same copybook, from the similarity between their letters. I think parts of Cambridge City, Wisbech and March had the worst handwriting of all.
Migration patterns can’t, of course, be studied closely in this census. But there is plenty of evidence of movement – both because people are not born in county, and because they are not in the same place by 1851. Except in Cambridge City and possibly Wisbech there are few actual foreigners, but there are quite a few Irish – as well as those gangs of workers up in the north.
Something else of note is the fact that the census being taken on a Sunday, many many families had visiting preachers staying with them. – Hopefully the answer to some of the missing heads of Household around the county!
The thing I have perhaps enjoyed the most, is the detective work in pinning down some of the more obscure/ illegible names and occupations. To begin with I was working just with the fiche of the 1851 census and the Baptism Index. I very quickly learned that there are easier ways!
Having received computer copies of the Baptism and Burial Indexes from Norman and Vicky Uffindell, I very quickly wrote queries on these databases. This way I can search the baptism index by Christian name, parish, by father’s name, by mother’s name……. Or by "wildcard" – that is I can type in something like "D*y*e" or even "*oy*".
As time went on I also had the 1851 census computerised; I have a Cambridgeshire Trade Directory 1830 on CDRom which helped with tradesmen in the larger towns. The Burial Index helped with widows and sometimes I had parish registers on computer as well.
The only things I really couldn’t do much about were people who had recently moved into the county and moved on (maybe only to another village) by 1851. From the beginning where I was asking people to check these names at the CRO, I progressed so that the only things I had to have checked were those that were too faint to read.
Now I have complete indexes for the 1841 and 1851 for the county I could go back and recheck everything and cross-index it………. Or maybe not!!!
Wendy Doyle
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