The Hampshire Family Historian | Vol.48 No.1 | June 2021

HGS News

In the news 100 years ago

Jane Hurst, of the Alton group found the following: A Reading newspaper of 1821 has an article on their census which took place 200 years ago. ‘Population - By the Act 1. Geo. 4. C. 94. S. 2. the Overseers with the assistance of the Churchwardens, &c. of every parish and place in England, are bound, on the 28th of this month, (May) to take an account of the number of persons therein, and inform themselves by going from house to house of certain particulars, and prepare answers to questions according to the form of certain schedules annexed to the Act. And the better to enable the Overseers, &c. to make such answers and returns, they and the persons assisting them, are authorised to ask such questions of the persons within the parish, &c. respecting themselves and the number and quality of the persons constituting their respective families as shall be necessary for stating the particulars required to be stated, concerning them in the said answers and returns. For every person refusing to answer or wilfully giving a false answer to such questions, or any of them, for every such refusal or false answer, forfeit not exceeding £5 nor less than 40s.’ A farm labourer earned about 4s (20p) a day so a 40s fine was about 10 day’s pay or 10 days without food or rent. The £5 fine was

about 25 day’s pay which would have caused serious hardship for a worker and his family. The third census of Great Britain (i.e. England, Scotland and Wales) was taken on Monday 28th May 1821. The returns gave a population of 14.4 million people, an increase of 1.8 million over 1811. The details recorded for each parish, township, or place were: • Number of inhabited houses, occupied by how many families • Number of houses being built • Number of uninhabited houses • How many persons, how many male, how many female • How many households are chiefly employed in agriculture; how many in trade, manufactures, or handicraft; and how many in neither • The number of persons broken down into age ranges, male and female. Details of individuals and their names were not recorded. This census was the first to try and measure the age range of the population in age range bands of 5 years up to 20 years, otherwise in 10 year bands. Approximately 50% of the population was under 20 (in contrast to about 25% today).

With the unpredictable situation surrounding Coronavirus, the society took the decision to close the Research Centre when the first lockdown was announced, until further notice. HGS Research Centre 52 Northern Road, Cosham, Portsmouth PO6 3DB

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