Census returns in past times

ONE OF THE MOST important events of the coming year will be an official count of everyone living in the country, the 2011 census.

The first census was carried out in 1801 when it revealed a total population for England and Wales of 9.3 million. In the 200 years that have followed, similar statistical checks on the people living here have been carried out every ten years, with the exception of 1941 when the Second World War was underway, and the results reflect dramatic changes in society through times of conflict, social deprivation and industrial revolution under eight monarchs, during which time the population has grown to over 52 million.

The last census was taken in 2001 and this year’s count on Sunday 27th March will be such a massive undertaking that the arrangements are well advanced.

Until 1801, the actual population of Bourne was never accurately known. According to an inventory of the estate of Lady Blanche Wake, whose family owned the Manor of Bourne, a total of 2,295 people were reported to be living here in 1380 and it also listed 413 houses and a military garrison of 200 strong. This population figure however, appears to be quite high and is most likely to be incorrect because two centuries later there were only 174 families in residence and the population never exceeded 2,000 again until 1820.

By 1665, it was estimated from various tax returns that Bourne, including Cawthorpe and Dyke which both lie within the parish, had 780 inhabitants and that the figure had only increased to 807 eleven years later. In the 18th century, as in earlier periods, it is difficult to obtain precise figures for the size of Bourne's population although a count made at three different times during the years 1705 to 1723 shows that the town contained 300 families, then 212, and then 217, but the precise dates for these surveys are not known.

Towards the end of the century, it is probable that the population of Bourne began to increase again. The parish registers show that in the years 1735-54 inclusive there were 909 baptisms in the Abbey Church, but in the period 1775-94 there were 1,014. On the other hand, the death rate was falling because in the whole of the 17th century there were 4,873 burials in Bourne and in the next hundred years there were 4,951 which is only a small increase when set against the rising figures for baptisms. This all points to a general rise in the total population over the century as a whole.

The introduction of the national census in 1801 brought with it more accurate population counts with a gradual increase in growth for the ensuing years. The figure for that year was 1,664 and Bourne experienced a population explosion in the first half of the 19th century, growing at a rate unequalled until modern times with the figure more than doubling in the forty years from 1811 (1,784) to 1851 (3,717). Thereafter, it remained at almost the same level, until the last two decades of the century brought a further, but more gradual, upward trend until 1891 (4,191).

During the 20th century, the town continued to increase in size, although its growth was steady rather than spectacular until 1931 (4,889) but after the Second World War of 1939-45, the population then began to rise more rapidly and the census of 1951 revealed that the town had 5,105 inhabitants. One of the main catalysts was the increased opportunities for employment in neighbouring towns such as Stamford and Grantham and particularly Peterborough rather than any sudden new development in Bourne itself although not all of the newcomers were commuters.

Bourne Urban District Council had striven hard, and with some success, to attract light industry to Bourne and the construction of new council housing was soon underway to cope with the influx while lower house prices also made the town a popular place to set up home for servicemen at the various Royal Air Force bases in the region including Wittering, Cottesmore and North Luffenham, and most of those who moved here had wives and young children and many have settled here permanently.

The 1961 population of 5,337 reflected future trends and there was a further increase by 1981 (8,142). The total from the latest census taken in April 2001 was 11,933 but this figure is now likely to have increased dramatically as a result of a programme of intensive private house building in the town, notably 2,000 new homes currently under construction at Elsea Park, the biggest single residential development in the town’s history, as well as numerous smaller housing estates elsewhere, and a population of around 15,000 would appear to be a more realistic figure as Bourne expands at a far greater rate than at any time in its history.

Census returns for the four surveys between 1801-31 were little more than head counts but later records which are slowly being released for publication include names, addresses, occupations and a great deal more information. Those from 1841-1901 are now available for research, notably by ordinary people tracing their family history and as these documents can now be accessed over the Internet, genealogy has become a popular pastime for many.

The returns are so detailed that they enable you pinpoint family members with remarkable accuracy of detail and as an example, I have chosen the year 1851 at random. Living in North Street was William Whyles, aged 40, a farmer with 190 acres of land and employing six men, with his wife, Elizabeth, aged 36, two sons both at school, William, aged 7, and Benjamin, aged 13, a servant girl, Ann Bell, aged 14, and two labourers, Henry Banks, aged 20, and Joseph Kettle, aged 16.

Another example comes from Church Street (now Abbey Road) where Towns Gatliffe, aged 42, a hairdresser and the town’s postmaster, was living with his wife, Charlotte, aged 38, their son, Robert, aged 3, and Mr Gatliffe’s mother, Hannah, aged 70.

Each street in the town is similarly recorded, thus creating a remarkable archive for family research and so it will be for future generations when the 2011 census has been completed and the information is eventually made available to the public.