Post by jo on Dec 10, 2021 8:19:27 GMT
Most people today know what the census is. In the past it was carried out every 10 years and the information was to help Government both local and central to be able to assess the population of the Country/ District. If you have carried out any research into your families you will know more about the information that was collected. Early censuses really gave very little personal information but by 1841 they began to be useful to families and historians. Giving names , ages and places where they were born. Opening our computers we are now able to access for a fee these censuses and open the door into a different world. I have been tracing my family history for 50 years some lines with success and others fading away the further back I go. I have never thought of how the enumerator managed to collect the information. These (usually ) men had to knock on the doors of every house in their area to get a form filled in. They would have to trudge along unmade muddy roads often in the rain ( censuses usually took place around March) What I failed to remember was that in a rural place like Basildon many of these families were illiterate (as you will understand when you read Jessie Payne's article below.). So he would have to fill in the forms for them. He would leave the forms at houses where the occupier wanted to fill them in themselves, which meant that that another visit would be needed to pick them up and check them. If there was no one at home more visits had to be made. I had a friend who was an enumerator in 1991 and she moaned about how hard it was going around Vange handing out forms to almost every family to fill in and then having to pick them up on another occasion She was walking on metalled pavements and giving the forms to literate people who understood what was wanted. Repeat visits could be made in her car. (How things change) The next census should take place 2021
BASILDON AND THE CENSUS OF 1851
By J.K. Payne
The name chosen for the New Town was originally the name of a tiny scattered parish, which was ecclesiastically united to Laindon. The Census of 1851 gives many interesting details about Basildon, showing a picture of life far removed from that of today’s New Town.
There were only 157 inhabitants, 86 males and 71 females, 31 inhabited houses, four uninhabited and four being built. There were five widows, three widowers and 23 single persons over 21. Only three heads of households were born in the parish and they were farm labourers aged 32, 33 and 39 living in Bull Road. The oldest inhabitant was the church clerk, Edward Porter, who was 81, and the oldest inhabitant born in Basildon was aged 63. Nearly all were Essex people except one young man of 19 who came from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, three ladies from Cavendish, Suffolk, and one from Middlesex.
Three farmers had five children, one four and the farm labourer who occupied Barstable Hall six.
The chief occupations were that of farmer and farm labourer. A Relieving Officer and Registrar of Births and Deaths lived at Fryerns Farm, and his wife, who had a 19-days-old daughter, had a monthly nurse. There were five servants, an errand boy and a shoemaker, Joseph Chandler, who lived in Parsonage Road, which was probably Basildon Road. Algers Lane, in which three families lived, cannot be identified.
Two children were entered as scholars and two as ‘day scholars’, probably at Puckle’s Charity School at Laindon Church. The rest received no education.
Some of the unusual names are Cassandra, Mahala and Brelinha (Belinda). Place names were often misspelt. Snordam for Snoreham in Essex and Brorstbey in Essex.
The largest amount of land, 540 acres, was farmed by Mary Raynham, a widow of Monted (Moated) House in Church Road. She employed 16 labourers. Next came Daniel Archer of Wasketts Farm, the only farm still under cultivation in Basildon, who farmed 530 acres and employed 18 men; third was Benjamin Moss, of Fairhouse, who farmed 450 acres and employed 15 labourers.
BASILDON AND THE CENSUS OF 1851
By J.K. Payne
The name chosen for the New Town was originally the name of a tiny scattered parish, which was ecclesiastically united to Laindon. The Census of 1851 gives many interesting details about Basildon, showing a picture of life far removed from that of today’s New Town.
There were only 157 inhabitants, 86 males and 71 females, 31 inhabited houses, four uninhabited and four being built. There were five widows, three widowers and 23 single persons over 21. Only three heads of households were born in the parish and they were farm labourers aged 32, 33 and 39 living in Bull Road. The oldest inhabitant was the church clerk, Edward Porter, who was 81, and the oldest inhabitant born in Basildon was aged 63. Nearly all were Essex people except one young man of 19 who came from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, three ladies from Cavendish, Suffolk, and one from Middlesex.
Three farmers had five children, one four and the farm labourer who occupied Barstable Hall six.
The chief occupations were that of farmer and farm labourer. A Relieving Officer and Registrar of Births and Deaths lived at Fryerns Farm, and his wife, who had a 19-days-old daughter, had a monthly nurse. There were five servants, an errand boy and a shoemaker, Joseph Chandler, who lived in Parsonage Road, which was probably Basildon Road. Algers Lane, in which three families lived, cannot be identified.
Two children were entered as scholars and two as ‘day scholars’, probably at Puckle’s Charity School at Laindon Church. The rest received no education.
Some of the unusual names are Cassandra, Mahala and Brelinha (Belinda). Place names were often misspelt. Snordam for Snoreham in Essex and Brorstbey in Essex.
The largest amount of land, 540 acres, was farmed by Mary Raynham, a widow of Monted (Moated) House in Church Road. She employed 16 labourers. Next came Daniel Archer of Wasketts Farm, the only farm still under cultivation in Basildon, who farmed 530 acres and employed 18 men; third was Benjamin Moss, of Fairhouse, who farmed 450 acres and employed 15 labourers.
