Diocesan Population Returns 1563 and 1603

The earliest documents to consider are The Diocesan Population Returns, these take us back 450 years to 1563 and 1603. These can be accessed in Klausner, David & Dyer, The Diocesan Population Returns for 1563 and 1603, Alan & Palliser, David. (2007).

The 1563 survey was perhaps motivated by the Elizabethan Settlement, a series of policies which aimed to bring stability to religion following Elizabeth’s accession in 1558. A memorandum from Sir William Cecil asks all Bishops to answer the question ‘how many howsholds ar in ev[er}y cure’ stating that the information is required for ‘the collection of revenues for poor relief and other alms-related purposes’.

The 1603 survey was undertaken at the beginning of the reign of James I of England, by Archbishop John Whitgift. Whitgift asked Bishops to provide three pieces of information from their parishes. Firstly, ‘the certeine number of those that do receive the Communion in everie parishe’, secondly, the certeine number of everie man recusant…in everie…parishe…and…of everie woeman recusant’, and thirdly ‘the certeine number…of everie man…who dothe not receive the Communion…and…of everie woeman’. In other words, Whitgift wanted to know how many communicants, individuals who received Holy Communion, and how many recusants, those who did not adhere to the Protestant faith there were in each parish.

In 1563 the number of families in Fletton was 24. Whilst in 1603, the number of male and female communicants, recusants and non-participants, the potential total population of Fletton, was 91. There were no recusants recorded.

Protestation Return 1642

We now move forwards 40 years to the early 1640s when the country was in turmoil as Civil War loomed. In May 1641, the members of both Houses of Parliament swore an oath declaring their loyalty to the Church of England, the King and ‘the Powers and privileges of Parliament’. This was followed, a few days later, by the passing of an Act, in the House of Commons for all men over 18 to swear such a protestation.

The following January the Speaker of the House of Commons sent instructions to the County Sheriffs that the protestation should be taken throughout the country. Once the protestation had been sworn lists of those who took the oath, and those who did not, were returned to parliament. The oath was first taken by overseers, churchwardens and constables, in front of the justices, and then these officials organised and witnessed their own parishioners take the protestation oath.

The Protestation Returns give an indication of the population of a parish as they detail all males over 18, and in some cases females, they also give the names of the parishioners, something that none of the other sources do.

Fletton, still a small rural parish, recorded 57 adult males over 18, no women and no recusants were recorded.

Interestingly few of the family names that are listed on the Protestation Return occur in the nineteenth century census returns and the reason why remains a mystery!

It should be noted that not all protestation Returns survive, but where they do, they can be accessed through the Parliamentary Archives.

Bishop Compton’s Ecclesiastical Census of 1676 ‘Compton Census’

A little over 30 years later Charles II’s Lord Treasurer, Lord Danby instigated another valuable survey which became known as the ‘Compton Census’. Danby was pro-Anglican and he wanted to demonstrate the inferiority of the Nonconformists. Charles II was sceptical believing that this would unite the Nonconformists. The Bishop of London, Henry Compton, was charged with finding out three things. Firstly, how many persons or families were living in each parish, secondly how many of those were Popish recusants, or suspected of being such and thirdly how many dissenters there were.

Once Compton received the results it was calculated that nationally the number of Conformists (Anglicans) to Nonconformists was 23 to 1, Conformists to Papists (Roman Catholics) 179 to 1 and Conformists and Nonconformists to Papists 187 to 1.

In Fletton the number of parishioners was 162. Of these 151 were Conformists and 11 Nonconformists. Therefore, the number of Nonconformists was higher than the national average at 14 Conformists for every 1 Nonconformist.

Further information about Compton and the census can be found in, E. Carpenter, The Protestant Bishop: Being the Life of Henry Compton, 1632-1713, Bishop of London (London: Longmans, Green and Co, 1956), pp. 31 and 32. and A. Whiteman (ed.) The Compton Census of 1676: A Critical Edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986).

Bishop Wake’s Visitation Returns 1706

30 years later, in 1706, Fletton appears in Bishop Wake’s Visitation Returns. William Wake, the Bishop of Lincoln from 1705 until 1716, was determined that English churches would resist the call of Rome and to this end his attitude to nonconformism was one of tolerance. (8) He was even prepared to revise the prayer book if that would allay the doubt of the dissenters. The visitation returns cover the years 1705 and 1716 and portrays the history of over 1,200 villages and their inhabitants.

The information held refers to families rather than individuals. It appears that nonconformism was decreasing in Fletton as out of 37 families living in the parish there was only one dissenter, an Anabaptist.  Unfortunately, the dissenter is not named, but it would have been interesting to know whether the family’s beliefs were strong or whether the clerk or incumbent Reverend John Wright disliked their views and labelled them Anabaptist.

The Visitation Returns cover: Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire and more information can be found in, Bishop Wake’s Summary of Visitation Returns from the Diocese of Lincoln 1706-15, Part 2: Bedfordshire, Leicestershire, Buckinghamshire, J. Broad (ed,) (Oxford University Press, 2012).

1801 to 1831 census

140 years later, following concerns that Great Britain’s population would outstrip food supply, the 1841 census was taken under the First Register General, John Lister. It is considered the ‘first truly modern census’. (9) But the first census records, those taken between 1801 and 1831, should not be ignored. The first census was taken on Monday 10th March 1801, and subsequent pre -1841 censuses were taken on Monday 27th May 1811, Monday 28th May 1821 and Monday 30th May 1831. The population of Great Britain at that first census was revealed to be 9 million.

In 1821 Fletton was still a small rural community with a population of 159 (males 76, females 83). There were 34 houses, and these were occupied by 34 families. 21 families were employed in agriculture, 8 in trade or manufacturing and 5 in other occupations.

By 1831 the population had grown to 189 (males 91, females 98). There were 41 houses, and these housed 46 families. Agriculture still dominated with 25 families working on the land, 10 families were employed in trade or manufacturing and 10 in other occupations.

This exploration of early sources has illustrated how the development of a parish need not be restricted to the census years 1841 to 1911. A parish’s development can be traced over 500 years. We may not always know individual names, but we can use contextual information to build a picture of a local community.

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank the Society for One-Place Studies who provided access to copies of the Diocesan Population Returns and The Compton Census. I would also like to thank Philip Saunders of The Huntingdon Local History Society who offered advice regarding Bishop Wake’s Visitation Returns.  Finally, I would like to acknowledge Simon Clenmow’s talk ‘Establishment and Dissent: Conformity and Nonconformity in Eighteenth-Century Huntingdonshire’.

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