Census taking

[Peewee]

Can anyone tell me what instructions were given to the English census enumerators in the 1800's regarding recording the order of the properties he visited. For example, which end of a road he should start, should he start on the right and work to the end then return up the left hand side or could he zig zag across the road as he went along? Plus, if he had to return to a property at a later date to complete the household details, could these be recorded on the census summary not in the order that the properties appear "on the ground".

I am trying to identify the occupants of one particular house throughout the decades where the cottages were not given a house number or name. I have analysed the census summaries for the road in question which shows that
1. there was no logic to the order in which the properties were recorded on the summaries or
2. the families in the road were constantly moving their furniture up and down the road on their hand carts to different cottages whilst keeping the same neighbours! Peewee

[hallmark]

There was no order, they had to enumerate each house and that depended on which houses they got an answer from when they knocked on the door!

Then move to next street...get what they could, then move to next street..... marking on a map which houses were done.

Then go back maybe next day to call at those houses not enumerated

[Guy Etchells]

You need to look at the first pages of the enumerators return which indicates the route he took.
This written route often allows the researcher to decide whether the enumerator walked up one side of the street then returned down the other or started at house number 1 followed by 2 etc. criss-crossing the road as he went up it.
Missing entries would be included at the end of the return (the return not just at the end of the street entries).
Cheers
Guy

[Skoosh]

Having done the census a couple of times I never received any instruction as to how to proceed, whatever suited the enumerator as long as the ED was covered. Any formal modus operandi would have been counter productive in any case. I did it from the boot of the car, how folk managed in the 19th century is beyond me.

Skoosh.

[hallmark]

About how many households would you have to cover?

[Peewee]

Thanks everyone.

The number of properties seems to vary considerably. The 1939 register shows 9 houses, and the censuses show

1911 13
1901 12
1891 12
1881 19
1871 17
1861 16

From the maps I have looked at, there appears to be no demolished properties. I am thinking that maybe the delineation of the road may have changed (where it started and finished) or, as the village is in Somerset, maybe the local scrumpy may have affected the enumerator.

[hallmark]

Are they the number of households or the number of houses??

[Peewee]

households Hallmark. From the later censuses it is clear that the cottages were small with the vast majority being just 3 or 4 habitable rooms. I know my own grandfather grew up in a 2 up and 2 down and there were 14 children in that household. I may be wrong but I cannot believe that 2 different and unrelated families resided in such a property.

[Peewee]

http://www.historyhouse.co.uk/articles/enumerators-poem.html

Does the poem on this link resonate with you Skoosh