1st Radlett Census 1841
THE YEAR 1841 WHEN THE FIRST CENSUS WAS TAKEN
Harold Knee, historian, wrote in 1976....
CENSUS 1841 was the first Census in Radlett, when 439 names were recorded. It was the 4th year of Queen Victoria’s reign and life expectancy for men was 40, and for women, 42.
The word 'CENSUS' is of Latin origin. In ancient Rome the CENSOR was a public official whose duty was to keep a roll of citizens; if anyone was considered unfit to have his name on it, it was struck out - so we have the word 'censorious', or to ‘censor’ something.
Our extensive Census records are thanks to the research work of the late historians Philip Eastburn and before him, Harold Knee, who had researched the microfilm files at the Public Record Office in London. In 1974 he published insights into Radlett’s 1841 population, on which this article is based. Unlike 2021's 50+ questions, 1841 people had just four to answer– Full Name, Age to the nearest 5 years, Occupation, and whether or not they had been born in the county in which they happened to be living at the time of the Census. Data relating to dwellings in Radlett were extracted from the Aldenham Census.
The range of jobs show a stark contrast to today’s profile. Few of these would feature in 2021, though we’ve probably all had ‘Higglers’- or itinerant traders– door- knocking. Note the pensioner, aged 47!
At the time of the Census, the owners of NEWBERRIES and KENDALLS mansions were away and only the servants were in residence. A laundress, and 7 others, including four servants at KENDALL HALL, lived in cottages at the bottom of TYKES WATER LANE.
‘Murder’ cottage - known as Probert's in 1823 - was still standing in Gills Hill Lane in 1841 and, in fact, was not pulled down until the 1880s; it is not mentioned in the Census and must have been unoccupied at that time. Among the 51 families, Knee observed that there were six sets of twins, with the Spriggs having two sets! The Hoopers and the Larkins, ten in all- lived in the pair of semi-detached cottages which in 1845 became the 'Cat & Fiddle' beerhouse.
Of the 14 ‘double-first’ Christian names, ten of them were ‘Mary Ann’. In later Census reports, the local population rises significantly with the coming of housing developments and regular rail services to London– in 1901, Radlett’s population was 808; twenty years later, it was more than doubled to 2431. The Museum has many copies of early census records, which are available for study, subject to normal visiting arrangements.
©Graham Taylor Radlett Museum