Children and the Census

Most teachers will know that prior to the 1872 Education Act many children were employed. What few teachers realise, however, is the extent to which the census enumerators' books recorded child employment.

The Shaw Family, Tunstall 1841

This is illustrated in the example below, which shows the Shaw family who lived in Potteries town of Tunstall in 1841. This is particularly interesting because the family included eleven-year old Charles Shaw who was an apprentice potter. Nearly sixty years later Shaw was to write about his early life in his book When I was a Child.

The census enumerators' books, particularly for 1841, should be treated with some caution. In that year the Children's Employment Commission visited Warrington and amongst those interviewed was Mary Cartledge a mother of five children, two of whom Henry and Mary worked as pin headers in one of the towns pin factories. However, her family's entry in CEBs tells a different story.

The Cartledge Family, Warrington 1841