Censuses and Trade Directories

Decennial Censuses: Making Sense of the Censuses

Introduction

This is an overview of Census information that can be found on our new website.

Population statistics have a dedicated page: High Country History Group – HCHG, covering the parishes of Greensted, Stanford Rivers, Stapleford Tawney and Theydon Mount in Essex, England.

In Previous Journals

Journal No. 18 provided an overview in Census Dates – for England & Wales, published by the High Country History Group:

"Population census records were first taken in 1801 and have since been taken every ten years. The only exception was in 1941, when we were at war. Prior to this only Parish Records recorded the number of people, together with a crude description or classification of occupations."

An article specifically relating to the 1801 to 1831 censuses was included in Journal No. 88: Dates of Essex Censuses 1801–1831, advising that these are (mainly) held at the Essex Record Office.

Currently family historians can view Census Records back to 1921. The release date of 6 January 2022 was reported in Journal No. 82: 1921 Census.

A report on the release of the 1911 census was given in Journal No. 34: The 1911 Census.

Journal No. 8 reported the online release of the 1901 census on 2 January 2002, mentioning that those who wanted to view it in person needed to visit the 'Family Records Centre': 1901 Census Online at the Family Records Centre.

The Centre has since closed and merged with The National Archives, but access is available through Family History websites. How things have changed.

Parish Census Information

For Stanford Rivers there were articles on the 1841 and 1901 Census respectively in Journals Nos. 13 and 25: 1841 Census – Stanford Rivers and 1901 Census – Stanford Rivers.

For Stapleford Tawney, information on the 1831 census was given in Journal No. 56: The 1831 Census for Stapleford Tawney.

The Group does not provide indexes of census names.

1939 Census

The outlier is the 1939 Census just after the outbreak of the Second World War. Martyn Lockwood wrote an article in Journal No. 68: The 1939 Census.

Kelly's Directory of Essex: 1933

Finally, Kelly's Directory 1933 is regarded as "a census substitute". Down the years various extracts were taken and published in the Journal. For those relating to the High Country:

• Greensted-juxta-Ongar: Journal No. 41 – Kelly's Directory of Essex 1933 – Greensted.
• Stanford Rivers: Journal No. 39 – Kelly's Directory of Essex 1933 – Stanford Rivers.
• Stapleford Tawney: Journal No. 40 – Kelly's Directory of Essex 1933 – Stapleford Tawney.
• Theydon Mount: Journal No. 42 – Kelly's Directory of Essex 1933 – Theydon Mount.

Census Research Guide

For more information, follow the external link to The National Archives: Census Records – The National Archives.

A Brief Guide to 'Trade Directories' in Essex

Trade Directories provide an interesting source of information to local historians. Originally published to list the names, addresses and occupations of individuals in each location, they also provide topographical information.

Family legend has it that my grandfather received a complimentary copy of the 1912 Kelly's Directory for checking the information for his parish, Mountnessing.

In 1990, the Essex Journal published an article about Directories of Historic Essex. This Brief Guide gleans some key facts.³

Martyn Lockwood wrote:

"Directories started in the late 17th century, but it was not until the 19th century that they became more widespread across Britain and more comprehensive.

By 1850 the main directory publishers were the Post Office, White's, Pigot's, and Kelly's.

The publisher of the directory often relied on local agents to collect information on the locality and its local residents – invariably upper and middle class – and trade and professional persons."

⁴

Pigot's Commercial Directory

Thomas Pigot published a commercial directory covering the London and provincial area in 1839. Eleven counties are included, with Essex placed third.

White's Directory of Essex

William White's History, Gazetteer and Directory of Essex was first published in 1848, and again in 1863. Extracts have been published elsewhere in the Journal.⁵

Kelly's Directories

Frederick Kelly entered into competition encompassing six counties, including Essex, in its 1841 and 1845 editions.

The 1851 edition of W. Kelly & Co.: Post Office Directory for the Six Home Counties was aggressively marketed in the year of the Great Exhibition. By then travel by railway from Essex was possible.

Sections on Essex were included in editions dated 1855, 1859, 1862 and 1866, with a corrected version published in 1867.

The expansion of London meant that the directory in 1870 had extended to 2,700 pages. There were further six-county editions in 1874 and 1878.

In 1882 and 1886 Kelly published directories for the three counties of Essex, Hertfordshire and Middlesex, with Part One dedicated to Essex.

Further editions were published in 1890, 1895, 1899, 1902, 1906 and 1908.

By then the invention of the telephone meant that a 'Post Office Telephone Directory' was available to subscribers, something which was to remain until relatively recently with the trade directory called 'Yellow Pages'.⁶

Kelly's Directory of Essex: 1910–1937

Kelly's Directory of Essex appeared in 1910, 1912, 1914 and 1917, with editions beginning in 1921 published by the 'Amalgamated Press', and further volumes in 1922 and 1929.

In 1929 the London Postal Area was excluded from the Essex volume.

The final editions were published in 1933 and 1937.

Andrew Smith

Footnotes

³ Essex Journal. Winter 1990. Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 64–66: "Directories of Historic Essex" by Richard Matthews. ↩

⁴ See Journal No. 85, which included a list of businesses and principal people in Stanford Rivers in 1875 (source: Kelly's Directory): Trade Directory for Stanford Rivers in 1875 – High Country History Group. ↩

⁵ See the following articles:

• Journal No. 27 – Greensted: White's Directory of Essex 1848 – Greensted (Full), High Country History Group.
• Journal No. 30 – Stanford Rivers: White's Directory of Essex 1848 – Stanford Rivers, High Country History Group.
• Journal No. 30 – Stapleford Tawney: White's Directory of Essex 1848 – Stapleford Tawney, High Country History Group.
• Journal No. 26 – Theydon Mount: White's Directory of Essex 1848 – Theydon Mount, High Country History Group.

Extracts from other parishes have been published which form an online collection. ↩

⁶ I write this in the week that Ingatestone Post Office building finally closed, having in recent years been a Post Office and convenience store. The Sorting Office behind closed about three years ago. The Post Office is moving to the Library. Growing up there in the 1970s – and collecting First Day Cover stamps – I remember four customer counters and ranks of telephone directories available for public consultation. ↩