London census 1811/1821/1831

[samesizedfeet]

Have been prompted by Merry to look at the stack of family history connected books I have that are gathering dust in the office.

Just reading through the record holdings guides and the local census listings has thrown up 3 census for London which mainly seem to be held by the Guildhall Library.

Has anyone any experience with these?

The guide says for the parishes I'm interested in "householders named with household numbers"

Is it just that? A name with number of occupants or do they give more information like occupation etc?


..

[KiteRunner]

I haven't actually looked at those London ones but I have got some Essex ones on microfiche and the 1821 entries had "housekeeper's name" (i.e. householder), number of houses inhabited, by how many families, what they were chiefly employed in (e.g agriculture or whatever), total number of persons including children, divided into males and females, then broken down into age groups.

Hope that's some help. I don't think they are all exactly the same as that, though.

[Peter Evans]

I've looked an early (1831) census for Surrey and it does give the householder's name - just that, the name of the head of the household. Obviously without ages and the rest of the family it is of limited value but in certain circumstances it may be just enough.

[Olde Crone Holden]

I have seen the 1831 for part of Lancashire and it just gives the surname of the householder and then the total number of males and females, and children, that's all - pretty useless for me.

OC

[samesizedfeet]

I want to use it to see if I can track the movements of the Linksons around London and as there would only be 4 (plus oldest children by 1831) then it should be pretty straightforward I'm hoping.

I'm hoping for an occupation clue as by 1831 there's a couple of Roberts and Johns who would only be distinguishable by their jobs.

It's a shame they hadn't mad the move a century earlier as the 1695 for within the city walls names everyone according to this book.

Almost all my family were incomers prior to the mid 18th century so the 1695 is of no help.

[Phoenix]

Rate books are v useful too. Westminster Archives has some. You can pinpoint moves between censuses.

[KiteRunner]

I think those London ones only cover a small part of London, so I don't know what the chances are of the Linksons being included.

[samesizedfeet]

They've got St Mary Woolnoth and St Mary Woolchurch which is where my direct lot show up on 1841.

They seem to have quite a few around the City so I may get lucky. Doesn't look like there's an index though so I'm probably going to have to set aside a week or so for it.

[samesizedfeet]

They've got St Mary Woolnoth and St Mary Woolchurch which is where my direct lot show up on 1841.

They seem to have quite a few around the City so I may get lucky. Doesn't look like there's an index though so I'm probably going to have to set aside a week or so for it.

[Merry Monty Montgomery]

prompted by Merry

I think these older census records are useful if you are looking for an unusual name and you know where they should be!

I have some Wiltshire parish ones (1801-1831) and also some that were conducted privately in Wiltshire - all different years, back to the early 1700's. The best one is the parish where Longleet is (forget the name? H............??) where as well as the usualy stuff there is a description of the state of every house and the houskeeping skills of each married woman and the husbandry skills of the men and lots of other lovely snippets - Pity none of my rellies were from there! lol

[Phoenix]

Vicars visiting book for Puddletown in 1700s has my ancestors in it!

The FFHS produced a brilliant little book on local censuses. There are no guarantees as to how detailed everything is, but just finding a name, address and date provides a few extra clues (and can I put a plug in here for Land Tax - one of the less mentioned sources, which is so useful for pinning an ancestor to a parish and giving a clue to when they died and who inherited)

[samesizedfeet]

Phoenix

that was one of the other books I had - a guide to Land Tax Assesment and Window Tax Asessment holdings.

I just spent about 3 hours going through the 3 Westminster Polls books I have with no luck whatsoever. SO I'm now having a bit of a sulk.

[Asa]

I don't know how rare an exception it is but the 1815 Newbury census is excellent. It was privately taken over several days and apparently covers every adult and child in the town with names, ages, occupations and with some bonus details - in my ancestor's case, where he came from.