Analysis of the 1881 Census for Holt and Little Witley

The census of the population of the UK is taken every ten years. With the exception of 1941, it has been taken every tenth year since 1801. Few personal details were recorded on the early returns, but from 1851 it recorded abode, name, relation to head of family, marital status, age, occupation, where born and certain disabilities. The 1881 Census was taken on the night of 3/4 April of that year. This later census has been transcribed by volunteers working under the guidance of the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons). It has subsequently been made available on CD-ROM. Extracting the Holt and Little Witley entries has facilitated the analysis of a number of factors relating to the two parishes and their inhabitants.

In Holt there were 54 occupied properties and 6 unoccupied, compared with 41 and 1 respectively in Little Witley (Fig 1).

Holt had a population of 239; Little Witley had 214. Overall there were 223 females and 230 males. The slight imbalance was possibly due to teenage girls leaving the area to go in to service in nearby towns. The age structure of the population of the two parishes is skewed towards children and young adults, with nearly half (47%) being less than 20 years old (Fig 2). The rapid levelling off of the age groups after the age of 20 would be due high infant and childhood mortality and emigration from the countryside of young workers and their families.

More girls less than ten years are equally by more boys in the 10 to 19 years age range. Fewer women in the ranges covering 20-39 years are probably accounted for by the hazards associated with childbirth. The paucity of men in the 50 to 59 years age range may be as a result of the ‘dangerous years’, a period when it is suggested they are particularly vulnerable to heart attacks and strokes. In old age the sexes are at near parity, however there were only two people, both women, over the age of 90.

Only 30 people over the age of 20, i.e. 12% of the relevant population, were unmarried. Two thirds (67%) of the people over 20 years old were married. The balance was made up of widows and widowers of which there were nearly twice as many of the former (17) as the latter (9) (Fig 4).

There were a number of non-family members resident with several households (Fig 5). The predominance of servants and housekeepers in Holt reflects the status of farms such as Holt Castle and Bentley. In Holt all the lodgers were labourers, in Little Witley however three were gamekeepers and two tradesmen, a carpenter and blacksmith, the rest were labourers. The gamekeepers no doubt managed the game in Ockeridge and nearby woods, and in the deer park at Great Witley.

Agriculture related occupations and trades predominated in the employment field (Fig 6). Manufacturing tradesmen were blacksmiths, wheelwrights and a carpenter.Service trades included domestic staff (26), gardeners and shopkeepers (4 each), and shoemakers and dressmakers (3 each) Public servants consisted of two school mistresses, two clergy and a policeman. Two people, both in Little Witley, were unemployed.

Plotting the places of birth of the inhabitants of Holt and Little Witley reveals that the largest number, but at 44% not the majority, were born in the two parishes, with 107 in Little Witley and 94 in Holt. A further 70 (15%) were born in neighbouring parishes; 18 in Martley, 15 in Grimley, 14 in Shrawley, 10 in Wichenford, 8 in Great Witley and 5 in Ombersley. The remaining 182 inhabitants came from over 120 other places. Most of these were in Worcestershire, although individuals from Scotland, Ireland and Jersey were present.