Diseworth Census Data
A census has been carried out in England and Wales every ten years since 1801, although until1841 this was simply a headcount, and did not record individual's names. The detailed census returns for the period from 1841 to 1901 are in the public domain, and reveal the members of households, their place of birth and occupation. Whilst these records are more often used to trace ancestors in family history research, they can equally be used to develop a picture of the inhabitants of a particular place.
We have included the census information for Diseworth here, to assist with genealogical research, and to help show how the village changed during the nineteenth century. We gratefully acknowledge the work of the National Archives, who maintain these records.
Note that these records have been taken directly
from the Archives, which depend on someone reading the handwriting
of the census collectors at the time, so they may include
mis-reading of names and other details, transcription errors or omissions.
Please advise us of any such errors in the Diseworth records.
Source Material
If you want to look at the original census records, you can do so at:
Findmypast.com which has the UK censuses for 1841, 1861, 1871 and 1891 (This site operates as a subscription service).
1901Censusonline.com has the 1901 census records (and all the others including 1851, except 1881). You need to buy 'credits' from the site to view entries.
FamilySearch.org provides the full British 1881 Index free of
charge.
Historical context
The Office for National Statistics published an interesting summary* in 2001, to mark the 200th anniversary of the first census, which contains various facts and figures about how the population of Leicestershire and their occupations has changed over two centuries. You can download it here : note this is a 4MB Adobe PDF file.
* This material is © Crown
Copyright 2001 to the Office for National Statistics. DHT gratefully
acknowledges their permission to reproduce it here.
Future plans
We aim to extend the Diseworth census
entries on this site to include more detail of family groups, and
details of where they lived, in the future. All feedback and
comments gratefully received
here.