The Census data has been put in Excel spreadsheet form by Gareth Mellors. Please read the following text as a guide, or download this page HERE as a Word document to keep as reference when using the spreadsheet.

The census records households as they were on the evening of Sunday 31 March 1901. The village and its surrounding area was divided into three Enumeration Districts, numbered 11, 12 and 13, which were allocated to one of three enumerators: George Mitchem (District 11), Ernest Pullen, the village’s school headmaster (District 12) and Richard Mitchem (District 13).

George Mitchem was born in Stoke and, at the time of the census, was aged 61. His son, Richard, was 25. Both lived at Knapp Farm in North Curry. (Aside from being a farmer, the census lists George as "Expenditor to the Drainage Board", which administrative role probably served him well in collating the considerable volume of paperwork which the census entailed).

A few days prior to the census date, households received a form, known as a "Household Schedule", which they were tasked to complete, and which formed the basis of the eventual enumerators’ returns. The Schedules were collected in the first few days of April, at which point the enumerators set about compiling their returns in books provided to them for that purpose. It is these books which survive, allowing us to gain an insight into the life and times of the village at the turn of the 20^th Century, just a few weeks into the reign of Edward VII.

Given the prevailing rate of literacy and the relatively high number of children attending the village school, it is likely that many of the forms were completed by younger members of the households.

(b) How to use the spreadsheet

The spreadsheet (in Microsoft Excel format) is arranged in several ‘worksheets’, each one being accessible using the coloured ‘tabs’ towards the bottom of the screen. These are described in order below.

(i) The ‘original census’ sheet

The first screen is simply an electronic copy of the original census return itself, arranged in the order in which the enumerators transcribed it.

Data is arranged under the following headings:

• District – one of three Enumerator’s routes, 11-13
• Page
• Schedule – simply a chronological reference for the household in question
• Road
• House name – note that most entries do NOT allow the reader to discern which property a particular family lived in. The primary aim was to derive general population data rather than to identify individuals and their homes.
• Surname
• Christian names
• Relation – how is each person listed related to the ‘Head’ of the household?
• Status – married or single, widow or widower
• Age (m)
• Age (f)
• Occupation
• Employment – worker, employer, or "living on own means"
• At home – is the employment undertaken within the named person’s home?
• Place of birth
• County
• Disability

Note that certain detail, such as the number of rooms which a particular family occupied, has not been reproduced at this stage. (As and when a ‘version 2’ is compiled, that data will be included).

(ii) The ‘searchable’ sheet

Perhaps the most useful sheet, this allows the original census data to be sorted in a variety of different ways, for example by listing every resident of the village in alphabetical order. When viewing this sheet, simply select the ‘data’ menu on the toolbar and then select ‘sort’. When the ‘sort’ menu appears, click the headings to determine in which order you would like the data arranged. For example, if you would like to sort the data by names and ages, select ‘data’, ‘sort’ and then pick ‘sort by’ [column E - surname], ‘then by’ [column F – first Christian name] ‘then by’ [column M - age].

(iii) District details

In their own words, these are the textual descriptions of the routes taken by the enumerators when collecting the Household Schedules. Another entry describes the boundaries of each of the three Enumeration Districts which comprise the Stoke St Gregory parish returns.

(iv) Christian names

William and Mary were the most common names amongst village residents in 1901. As can be seen, several rather unusual names were also recorded, including ‘Jubileena’, doubtless given in honour of Queen Victoria’s jubilee in 1887.

(v) Surnames

Boobyer (85) and Hembrow (82) were the most common surnames.

(vi) Place of birth

In 1901, an amazing 65% of the village’s population was born here. Although some rather more exotic places, such as Australia and America, also feature in the list, the vast majority of residents were born either in Stoke or one of the surrounding parishes.

(vii) Age data

The ages from the census return are tabulated and arranged by male/female/total number of residents of a given age.

From the second table/chart, it can be appreciated how ‘young’ the village’s population was in 1901, with 46% of residents aged under 20 years of age.

(viii) Great War

Listed in order of their death, this sheet shows those boys/men (highlighted in yellow) who were subsequently killed during the First World War.

(ix) Trades and Occupations

Perhaps unsurprisingly, agricultural labour was the primary category of employment, although the wicker/withy industries were also major sources of income for local families, with 56 boys and men listed as basket/chair makers and almost 60 women occupied as withy whiteners or withy strippers.

Given the lower mobility of goods and consumers, most of the key trades are represented in the local population (e.g. bakers, plumbers, masons, blacksmiths, carpenters). Reliance on horse-drawn transport also meant that the village could support six blacksmiths and four wheelwrights.