Metheringham Area  - 1881 Census

About the Census database

used with permission P. Ford

The Metheringham Area 1881 Census Database is a snapshot of life in rural Lincolnshire in 1881 census. It contains all the 1881 census details for the Lincolnshire parishes of Metheringham, Dunston, Blankney and Scopwick. A complete census was taken every 10 years of every individual in the country. The details were collected, collated and analyzed and then used by governments. An enumerator (or census taker) visited every household and the head of household was required to complete a census form giving details of each individual in that household on census night, Sunday 3rd April, 1881.  The enumerator would then return to collect the forms, giving assistance if required to complete them.

On the search page, you can enter a surname of interest, press submit and if it is contained within the database the following details will appear:

Name: The name of the individual, given as forename(s), middle initial(s)(if any) and surname. Enumerators were supposed to standardise names where possible. This was not always done. For example there are several variants of the forename, Elizabeth.
Status: Marital status; M = Married, S = Single, W = Widowed
Age: Rounded down to the nearest year. Children aged under 1 are usually given in months.
Sex: M = Male, F = Female
houseID: A hyperlink to an additional page that enables all members of the same household to be viewed together .
Census Place: The area where the individual was recorded as living on the night of the census.
Occupation: Each person was required to state their occupation. Definitions of occupations.  See this study for a more in depth analysis.
Birthplace: Each person's place of birth is given (where known), usually in the format; town, county, country. During this census Lincolnshire, the county was enumerated as Lincoln and Lincoln (the city) is rarely distinguished from Lincoln (the county) for place of birth.  Although one of the tasks of the enumerator was to standardise entries, there are variable spellings for some placenames and in some instances only the county or country is given.
Notes: An employee was required to state the number of persons he employed. Farmers were required to indicate the amount of land (in acres) that they farmed. Additionally, any disabilities are recorded here.
 
Household: Clicking on houseId for an individual will give the following additional results for each separate household:
Address of household: House name, Street or Place name and Village.
Relationship: Each household on the census has a Head of household. The relationship of other people in the household to the head at the time the census was taken is given. Most relationships are self explanatory  Visitor means visitor to the household who did not live there and Servant means a servant who worked for and usually lived as part of the household.

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