Dorchester - St Peters

NOTE:- The 1841 Census was taken on Sunday 6/7 June 1841, for every person in each house that night, but also included night workers who would return to the house in the morning. The returns were compiled in parishes, and the families are shown in the order in which their houses were visited by the enumerators. The Registration Districts were the same as for the General Register. Each was sub-divided into Enumeration Districts of not less than 25, and not more than 200, inhabited houses. The forms were distributed to householders and collected and checked by the enumerators. At Hotels, hospitals, ships and other institutions, the forms were filled in by the official in charge. The enumerators were volunteer schoolmasters, clergymen, businessmen and other persons of some education. The Returns were then copied in pencil, into printed books of blank forms. These are the enumerator Schedules, micorpfilms of which are now widely available. Each one is prefaced with a description of the boundaries of the enumerators district.

The forms show the street in which each house stood, and sometimes the number of the house or its name. Each household also has an enumeration number which should not be mistaken for its street number. The questions asked on the forms are:-

Names of persons in the house: Only the surname and first Christian name are given

Their age and sex: Exact ages in years are given for children up to the age of 14 inclusive. For persons 15 and older, ages are given in five-year groups indicated by the youngest year of the group; that is ages 15 to 19 inclusive are shown as 15, from 20 to 24 as 20 and so on. people however did not always state their ages correctly and a few enumerators entered exact ages throughout.

Profession, Trade, Employment or of Independant Means: Often abbreviated for example Ag.Lab for agricultural labourer; F.S for female servant; F.W.K. for framework knitter; Ind of independant means; J for Journeyman; M.S. for male servant; N.K. for Not Known

Whether born in the same County: This question is only answered by 'Yes' or 'No' abbreviated to 'Y' or 'N' depending on whether or not the person was born in the county in which he was residing on census night.

Whether born in the Scotland, Ireland or Foreign Parts: This is answered by 'S' for Scotland, 'I' for Ireland or 'F' for Foreign Parts. Where the answer to the previous question about whether the person was born is the County [i.e. in this case Dorset] has been answered 'Yes' , I have entered 'England' in the Final Column.