Updated 28 Apr 2006
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WIRKSWORTH Parish Records 1600-1900
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Enumerators walked from house to house, collecting information
about who slept there on the night of Sunday 7 June 1841.
They were instructed to round down ages to a multiple of five
but
half did not understand or did not obey.
This rounding only applied to the 1841 Census.
Read about the difficulties encountered by
an enumerator in 1901
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Instructions to Enumerators in the 1841 Census
DIRECTIONS
Respecting the manner in which Entries may be made in the Enumeration Schedule.
"Age and Sex" -Write the age of each person opposite to the name in one of the two columns headed
"Males" and "Females", according to sex.
Write the age of every person under 15 years of age as it is stated to you. For persons aged 15 years and
upwards, write the lowest of the term of 5 years within which the age is.
Thus - for Persons aged 15 years and under 20 write 15 | 35 years and under 40 write 35 | 55 years and under 60 write 55
20 years and under 25 write 20 | 40 years and under 45 write 40 | 60 years and under 65 write 60
25 years and under 30 write 25 | 45 years and under 50 write 45 | 65 years and under 70 write 65
30 years and under 35 write 30 | 50 years and under 55 write 50 | 70 years and under 75 write 70
and so on up to the greatest ages.
If no more can be ascertained respecting the age of any person than that the person is a child or is grown up, write
"under 20", or "above 20", as the case may be.
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"LEGAL AGES"
If these instructions had been obeyed to the letter,
only the following "legal" ages would be found in the 1841 Census:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 ("age as it is stated")
15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 (age rounded down)
However, a survey of the actual ages recorded in the 1841 Census shows
that many ages were not rounded down when they should have been.
Below 15, many were rounded down when they should not have been.
This shows a misunderstanding of the instruction by the Enumerators.
RESULTS of Survey
- The area was recorded by 33 Enumerators,
of whom 16 were guilty of writing down "illegal" ages (ie. not on the list above).
- 1,336 ages out of 14,783 (9%) were illegal in this sense.
- Included in this figure, an estimated 300 from 5,276 aged 14 and below
(6%) were rounded down illegally.
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Age distribution in 1841 Census for Wirksworth Area.
Sample size=14,783 recorded ages
Age Num Age Num Age Num Age Num Age Num Age Num Age Num
1 401 11 297 21 58 31 26 41 27 51 16 61 3
2 436 12 349 22 53 32 31 42 30 52 18 62 9
3 398 13 279 23 39 33 24 43 25 53 19 63 14
4 393 14 310 24 49 34 45 44 28 54 22 64 20
5 481 15 1186 25 973 35 695 45 614 55 370 65 248
6 381 16 87 26 44 36 28 46 29 56 18 66 14
7 338 17 98 27 33 37 28 47 19 57 11 67 20
8 353 18 119 28 36 38 35 48 22 58 24 68 8
9 320 19 84 29 21 39 15 49 15 59 14 69 13
10 540 20 1094 30 974 40 772 50 596 60 372 70 222
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Deciphered, transcribed, compiled, indexed, formatted and copyright © 2006,
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All Rights Reserved.
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