A Lost Genealogical Opportunity

In 1753, Mr. Thomas Potter from Cornwall made a noble suggestion to Parliament that a Bill be advanced to require the "taking and registering...of the total number of people, and of the total number of marriages, births, and deaths, and also of the total number of the poor receiving alms from every Parish and Extra-parochial Place in Great Britain."[1] Unfortunately for genealogists, the members of Parliament were overwhelmingly against any such procedure because they deemed it too "costly and impracticable, and that it might even be used as a basis for new taxation."[2] In fact, Parliament viewed the Bill as absurd. Mr. Thornton from the City of York, "did not believe that there was any set of men...so presumptuous and so abandoned as to make the proposal we have just heard," and gave several reasons why it would not be advantageous including his final concern that "an annual register of our people will acquaint our enemies abroad with our weakness"—nothing could be further from their aspirations.[3]

It took almost another half century before Parliament considered another proposal to make an accounting of Great Britain's population. Industrialization and a rapidly increasing population forced the issue to proceed because the ability of the country to sustain unprecedented growth became a serious problem.[4] The first census of Great Britain was taken in 1801 and thereafter every ten years to the present time. For a number of reasons, the information from the 1801-1831 censuses is not useful nor available for most genealogical research. Therefore, it is not until 1841—nearly one hundred years since Mr. Potter's first proposal—that census information from Great Britain can begin to be used to locate and track families and individuals. Genealogists can only rue the day that Parliament so violently argued against gathering such valuable information.

For the Hobbs Cheltenham research, the history of the census has dealt a difficult blow. The parentage of William Hobbs remains undocumented and questionable on FamilySearch's "Family Tree." Four historical documents provide the only reliable evidence for William Hobbs himself: the Cheltenham Parish record of his marriage to Ann Owen in 1832, the 1841 England and Wales Census, and the 1846 civil and parish registrations of his death.[5]

There are some important things to note about the 1841 census. To avoid the problems of duplication or absence of people that plagued the previous censuses, Parliament ordered that the census was to be taken on the same day, or at the most two days, all over England and Wales. Census schedules were delivered to households days before the enumeration day. Householders were instructed to fill out the information beforehand according to who would be sleeping in the house on the night of the enumeration date. This procedure accelerated the time spent by the enumerators collecting the data and allowed it to be completed on the specified date.[6] Although the information came directly from householders there are precautions for genealogists to be aware of. Ages of persons over the age of 15 were often rounded up to the nearest five years so birth year ranges need to be compared with subsequent censuses to be accurately assessed. The census provides only limited information about birth origins. Individuals were marked as born in the same county as the enumeration county or that they were born in Scotland, Ireland, or Foreign Parts.

The 1841 census that enumerated the William Hobbs family was difficult to locate. No accurate results appeared when databases were queried with information pertaining to any of the family members. The family surname had been indexed as Halls instead of Hobbs. The correct record was located after browsing the enumeration district that included Rutland Street where son James Thomas Hobbs was recorded to be living at the time of his baptism in 1840.[7] Because of the practice of rounding ages in the 1841 census, William Hobbses enumerated age of 35 places his birthdate in the range of 7 June 1801-6 June 1805.

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[1] "PART 2 Significant Developments in the Scope and Organization of the Census," part of "History of the Census," Office of Population Censuses and Surveys/General Register Office, Guide to Census Reports: Great Britain 1801-1966 (London: HMSO, 1977), Vision of Britain Through Time,  (www.visionofbritain.org.uk accessed 18 September 2015).

[2] "PART 2, History of the Census," Vision of Britain Through Time.

[3] "PART 2, History of the Census," Vision of Britain Through Time.

[4] "PART 2, History of the Census," Vision of Britain Through Time.

[5] Church of England, Diocese of Gloucester (Gloucestershire, England), "Bishops Transcripts for the Diocese of Gloucester, 1813-1909," A-Ch, 1832, William Hobbs-Ann Owen marriage (Cheltenham, 6 Mar); FHL microfilm 394303; 1841 England Census, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, Civil Parish Cheltenham, ED 15, p. 26, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com accessed 18 October 2013), William Hobbs household (indexed as Halls); William Hobbs death 2 September 1846, England, death certificate #209, 1846, September Quarter, Cheltenham, General Registry Office, Southport; Church of England, Diocese of Gloucester (Gloucestershire, England), "Bishops Transcripts for the Diocese of Gloucester, 1813-1909," A-Ch 1846,  FHL microfilm 394357, William Hobbs burial.

[6] "2.4 Changes from 1841 to 1891," part of "History of the Census," Office of Population Censuses and Surveys/General Register Office, Guide to Census Reports: Great Britain 1801-1966 (London: HMSO, 1977), Vision of Britain Through Time, (www.visionofbritain.org.uk accessed 18 September 2015).

[7] 1841 England Census, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, Civil Parish Cheltenham, ED 15, p. 26, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com accessed 18 October 2013), William Hobbs household (indexed as Halls); Church of England, Diocese of Gloucester (Gloucestershire, England), "Bishops Transcripts for the Diocese of Gloucester, 1813-1909," Ch-G, no. 308, FHL microfilm 394334, James Thomas Hobbs baptism, 16 December 1840.