Logistics of census taking - the early years

[las camelias]

Well, I am staggered, even visiting 200 houses in a day is some feat.  What about payment, anyone know how much the enumerator got paid in say, 1861?

Thanks to all who have replied, as always, some very prompt and interesting responses.
LC

[las camelias]

Thanks Stan.  I've just read the enumerators instructions on the link you sent.  Very coherent and precise.  I bet people in those days were scared stiff of not filling in the forms after being given that set of instructions!  Shame it will never be the same again.
LC

[stanmapstone]

Well, I am staggered, even visiting 200 houses in a day is some feat.  What about payment, anyone know how much the enumerator got paid in say, 1861?

LC

In 1871 the enumerators were paid one pound one shilling (a guinea) and two shillings and six pence per hundred persons over the first 400, with certain travelling expenses. Registrars were paid four pounds, and as additional fee one shilling for every 100 persons above 1,200 in their district.

Stan

[Arranroots]

Can I ask an additional question, along the same lines, please?

I drove through the area my ancestors lived in while returning home last night.  It is hilly countryside and the town after which the enumeration district is named is some distance from the villages and hamlets that were covered by that diestrict.

So my question is - how did the mother of a newborn register the birth?

Did the registrars visit the main villages in rotation - a bit like they used to go to maternity wards?  Or did the poor mother have to drag her baby, along with any other children she had, all the way to the registrar's office?

I know we have at least one registrar on RootsChat - so I thought I would ask.

Arranroots 

[Mean_genie]

In the early years the registrar might well travel round to register births. He had a financial incentive to do so because he was paid a fee for every event registered. He might also have agents who would keep him informed of births in his sub-district. If the district was like the one you describe, a parent might be reluctant to make a long journey to the registrar's home or office, with no guarantee that the registrar would be there at the end of it. This probably contributed to the low rate of birth registration in areas like Wales and Cornwall in the early years.

The position changed following the 1874 Registration Act. Registrars had to have fixed hours of business, including regular visits to outlying villages if necessary. They would still make home visits on request, but only for a fee.

Mean_genie

[stanmapstone]

The registrars  had an incentive to register as they were paid for the entries viz. for the first Twenty Entries of Births and Deaths in every Year which he shall have registered, whether the same be of Births or of Deaths indiscriminately, Two Shillings and Sixpence each, and One Shilling for every subsequent entry of Births or Deaths in each Year. In fact two registrars were jailed for fraudulent entries. In one case births and the other births and deaths.

Stan

[Arranroots]

Thanks both!

It seems likely that my ancestors had to make the 14 mile round trip if they wanted to take advantage of the benificence of the workhouse out-relief, so maybe they did make the journey.

Recalling how tricky it is to get out of the house with a newborn, I wonder they ever bothered with registration at all (don't mention that it was illegal not to register births after 1874 - that sort of thing didn't bother some of my lot!!)

 

[MarieC]

This is fascinating!  Sounds as though the enumerators had to work very hard indeed for their pay! 

Thanks to all who gave information.  Stan, as usual you are a fount of knowledge!! 

MarieC