Birthdays are good for you.

Statistics show that the people who have the most birthdays live longest (Larry Lorenzoni)


Recording births

Before the 19th century, dates of birth were not officially noted, although baptisms occasionally were.  England began keeping parish records of births, deaths and marriages in 1538 but this wasn't implemented for the entire population until the Registration Act of 1836.  
The first British census in 1801 didn't record age, and age wasn't introduced as a question until the 1831 census - even then it wasn't mandatory to actually answer this question.  It wasn't until the 1851 census that people had to record their precise age.

In the 1841 Census a policy of rounding down ages was in place. As such, people aged:

15-19 were recorded as 15
20-24 were recorded as 20
25-29 were recorded as 25
30-34 were recorded as 30
35-39 were recorded as 35...and so on

1841 was the first time that the head of each household was given a form to fill in on behalf of everyone in the dwelling on a set day. This system still forms the basis of the method used today.

The 1841 census was taken on the night of 6 June 1841 and gave the total population as 18,553,124.

It's a pity that until 1841 copies of censuses were not kept as no use could be thought of for them - and even some of the 1841 census was destroyed.  

1851 censuses onwards had far more information included, such as the correct age of people and also where they were born.  In the 1841 census it was 'here' or 'not here'.


Interesting: http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/year9links/industrial/population.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Census_in_the_United_Kingdom
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_Kingdom_censuses gives dates when census actually took place, which is interesting for at least two reasons:

1. The age of an ancestor can be determined more easily from this information but it's still important to take any ages given with a pinch of salt (especially for 'ladies of a certain age').
2. Realising on what date the census occurred could give indication as to why some people may not be at their place of residence for the census - for instance it might be Easter, when they could be visiting family for the festival.

1851 census: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_Census_1851


What is the purpose of having a census?

The main purpose of the census is to gain information on population development, population structure, households and living conditions.

It is typical for the census to gain information on the national perspective as well as information right down to parish level, on a specific date.

To a significant degree, this type of information is impossible to collect in any other way (information on population structure according to education, economic activity and nationality as well as on families and households', structure and quality of dwelling and housing stock, on commuting to work and school etc.).

The purpose of the census is to provide data on ourselves. It is not an activity for statisticians but for society.  It shows us where we are as a nation and enables future planning.

Having said all this, so much information is gathered about us now electronically, via such items as driving licences, tax, electoral register that perhaps in the future it will no longer be relevant to hold a ten-yearly census.

Diagram: one of the purposes of the census was to help with future planning:

When gardening today, I was wandering round the garden with a bucket and remembered a story which dates back to the early 1970s.  

My widowed grandmother became ill and she didn't want to live in her great big house any more, miles away from her three daughters. 

She decided that she'd like to come and leave near her eldest daughter, in Cornwall - presumably because it was much warmer than nearer the other daughters - in Manchester and in Edinburgh.

She found a lovely bungalow in Saltash which, although in the next street, happened to be at the bottom of my parents' garden.  This was very convenient, my father ran a line down the garden so Grandma could talk to the family whenever she needed.  

Considering she wasn't in the best of health and had been transplanted from her native Yorkshire, where she'd lived for the best part of 80 years, she settled in very well.  

She had a cleaner, also fish and other food items were delivered in those days by a man coming round in his van once a week and all the housewives used to look forward to them coming.

The bungalow must have seemed very small to her, having lived in an enormous farmhouse and then retired to a very big house in Scarborough.

Anyway, to go back to the bucket.

One day my father appeared carrying a bucket (just like me) and my Grandma said: 'Oh, have you come to drown the kittens?'.  

That would seem a very strange thing to hear today.  But if we go back to my Grandma living on the farm, there were always lots of 'outside' cats (often feral), the ones who caught the mice and the rats.  Unfortunately it wasn't easy to catch them and have them neutered.  So a man used to come round regularly and dispatch any unwanted moggies.

These days we'd probably be reported to the RSPCA - but in those days it was perfectly legal (see: https://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101029071148AAJynZB).

One of the descendants of JHH Smale, Alfred Gardner Pickthall Hodgson,  looks rather interesting ... 

Firstly, to see where he fits in:

Daughter of JHH Smale
Charlotte E Smale

Born: 1851 Woolwich
Married:  Joseph Ralph W Bridle

Born: 1849 Portsea, Parents: Charles James Bridle and Jane E Smith

Children:

Lillian Charlotte, b 1876, Portsea (see below)

Claude Hamilton:  b 1881 Portsea, no issue

Their daughter: Lillian Charlotte Bridle

Called herself Lillian Paumier when an actress

Married: 1895 Manchester to Alfred Gardner Pickthall Hodgson (Paumier)(see bottom of this article)

Children:

Ronald Harker Joseph Alfred Ralph Pickthall , Christchurch 1896

John Hamilton Pickthall Hodgson, b Christchurch 1913

Son No 1: Ronald Harker Joseph Alfred Richard Hodgson-Paumier: Died: 16.8.1917, (515147 Pte Ronald Harker Joseph Alfred Richard Hodgson-Paumier joined 3rd Btn early 1917. Killed in action 16.8.1917, near Hooge during 3rd Battle Ypres, buried in Perth (China Wall) Military Cemetery, Zillebeke, Belgium. Attended Bournemouth School.)

Son No 2: John Hamilton Hodgson Paumier: Death 1940 (source Commonwealth War Graves. Band corporal in Royal Marine Band, on HMS Glorious d aged 27, memorial Portsmouth Naval Memorial in Hants.  Panel 43, column 3.  First married Ivy Brewer in 1937, daughter of that marriage Ann Hodgson Paumier.

To return to Lillian's husband: 

Alfred Gardner Pickthall Hodgson (later Paumier)

Born 1870 Everton, Lancs, Parents: Alfred Richard Hodgson and Diana Peck Boadle

1915 changed his name, London Gazette 14/5/1915 from Alfred Gardner Pickthall Hodgson to Alfred Gardner Pickthall Hodgson Paumier.

Died: 25 1.1951 aged 80, Surrey Alfred GPH Paumier.

Actor:

1914; active in Broadway in The Story of The Rosary, see above picture.

1916: The Lifeguardsman, adventure film, silent, made in UK.

1916: Wanted: A Widow, short, comedy.

1920. The Amateur Gentleman. Directed by Maurice Elvey, who probably also wrote the scenario. Featuring:

1.      Langhorn Burton as Barnabas Barty

2.      Madge Stuart as Lady Cleone Meredith

3.      Cecil Humphreys (I) as Wilfred Chichester

4.      Herbert Synott as John Barty

5.      Pardoe Woodman as Ronald Barrymaine

6.      Alfred Paumier as Prince Regent

7.      Gerald McCarthy as Viscount Horatio Debenham

8.      Geoffrey Wilmer as Captain Slingsby

9.      Sydney Seaward as Sir Mortimer Carnaby

10.  E. Vivian Reynolds as Jasper Gaunt

11.  Dalton Somers as Natty Bell

12.  Teddy Arundell as Digby Smivvle

13.  Will Corrie as Captain Chumley

14.  Judd Green as Jerry the Bosun

15.  A.C. Fotheringham-Lysons as Peterby 

Alfred Paumier plays the boxer who inherits a fortune & poses as a nobleman. He has to save his father from unjust imprisonment & strive not to lose the love of aristocratic Lady Cleone Meredith when inevitably his true identity is revealed.

http://www.violetbooks.com/farnol-films.html (unfortunately this a/c has now been suspended)

this looks like a good way to record the ancestors!

Genealogy Mistakes to Avoid

1. Forgetting your living relatives.
2. Not being aware of the sensitivities of older member of the family when you ask them for/or impart information.
3. Accepting family legends as fact as nine times out of ten  you will be disappointed.
4. Don't ridicule people in old photographs as their memory may be held dear.
5. Assume your ancestors were boring - usually far from it.
6. Disregard brothers and sisters (collateral ancestors) - they could hold vital clues.
7. Think genealogy is no more than just names and dates.
8. Limiting yourself to just one spelling.
9. Be taken in by generic family histories.
10. Don't misspell the word genealogy.

For explanations for people new to genealogy and family history see:
http://www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html.

For instance genealogy is the study of blood lines, whereas family history the relating of members of your family to social history and the times in which they lived.

If only I'd known ....

Twelve top tips from Eileen Amore on what she wishes she'd been aware of before embarking on her family history research

I wish ...

1. ... I'd realised the importance of keeping careful and legible family history records.  Finding a pencilled note 'Robert Frost 1820' in an old notebook two years later recalls neither place nor event.
2. ... I'd realised sooner that genealogy involves visiting a record office or The National Archives and 'putting flesh on bones' is vital.  Finding a whole set of relatives in Hampshire on the International Genealogical Index (www.familysearch.org) was an amazing find but, in hindsight, I should have checked parish records.  This would have saved many wasted months researching the wrong line.
3. ... I'd not been too proud to ask for help at record offices.  Misrofilm readers are not the easiest of equipment to use.  In retrospect, it would have been quicker to ask a member of staff for assistance.  That would have saved me the embarrassment of crawling under a table to retrieve the spool of film.  I have always found the staff in record offices extremely helpful and friendly. 
4. ... somebody had stressed the importance of finding a cafe in the vicinity of the record office.  This is essential because after a long journey threw's nothing better than a substantial breakfast and a restoring cup of tea.  As a bonus you might bump into other genealogists.  I mean this literally, as family history researchers, so not, as a rule, look where they are going!
5. ... someone had told me not to take family folklore literally.  I was told that one of my ancestors was called Marie Guiton.  It seems that she was the result of an affair somehow connected with the court of France.  It is told that when Princess Eugenie and her family fled to England, they were exiled in Surrey and Marie came with them.  It seems that my gg-grandparents raised Marie and paid for her schooling.  Little Marie haunts my dreams but I don't suppose I'll ever discover the truth.
6. ... I'd known about the usefulness of the 1881 Census much earlier than I did.  This was the first census to be indexed by surname.  It was also the fifth census, so the enumerators had got to grips with this arduous task.  They had perfected the art of saying: 'Line up and be counted, you miserable lot', which is probably why it's often the most reliable census.
7. ... someone had told me that genealogy can be all-consuming and addictive.  On my first visit to a major record office I sat next to a wizened old man.  He was dabbing his eyes with a handkerchief and sniffing.  I was concerned and whispered, 'Are you alright?'.  he murmured, 'I've lost Sarah.'  Trying to reassure him, I said I would try and find her. 'Where did you last see her?;, I asked.  @Eighteen-fifty-one,' he replied.  'She was working in a manor house in Cornwall.  I think the lord of the manor put her in the family way.'  I realised, then, that genealogy should, possibly, carry a 'Health & Safety' warning.
8. ... I'd known that locating an ancestor can often be difficult.  It still amazes me that people were born, married and died and yet it is sometimes almost impossible to find any evidence of their existence.  It is important to bear in mind that in Victorian times most people rented property and it was quite easy for our ancestors to move from area to area.  Also, try and think laterally when searching for a missing relative.  For example, the surname might have been transcribed literally.  Close your eyes and imagine a Victorian speaking in dialect and shouting 'Ledbetter' at a deaf enumerator.  So try different permutations, such as Ladbutter, Lidbooter or even Ludbetter.
9. ... that someone had told me that hands on a record office clock appear to go round at twice the speed of a normal clock.  Another anomaly is that it is often quite common to find vital information five minutes before the office closes.  The practical solution is to conduct as much research as possible before the middle of the afternoon. Then use the last half hour for collating any material you've collected.  Even write a short note of any information you wish to research on your next visit.
10. ... I hadn't said that genealogy sounded boring when I was persuaded to research my family history.  If only I'd known about the hours of enjoyment that genealogy provides.  The thrill of being a private detective and totally in charge of the case.  Due to my tenacious ferreting, I've discovered details of two great-uncles that I didn't know existed.   My grandfather often spoke of his two brothers but due to his fragmented childhood, he knew nothing about them.  On his death we found a box of birth certificates and decided to find out more.  After many months of research, I found members of his family still living in the same small town.  They were delighted to have relatives from the 'Old Country' and my life has been enriched by knowing these people.
11. ... I'd realised sooner that genealogy is not just about collecting ancestors. Details of occupations and areas where ancestors lived not only puts flesh on bones but helps to build a composite picture.  Ancestors then become real, and not merely names on a census or parish register.
12. ... most of all, that I had recognised the fact that ancestors are firmly rooted in the past and are unlikely to go anywhere.  Therefore, it doesn't matter if they are not collected all in one fell swoop: if only!

Member of 'The Smales' on Antelope, about 1950.

(from an article in Practical Family History magazine)

Ten golden rules of genealogy

1. Always work backward from the known (yourself) to the unknown (forebears).
2. Never believe everything on a birth, death or marriage certificate.
3. Never completely trust the spelling of surnames, place names etc.
4. Always check surname variants when researching (use soundex etc).
5. Always have at least two separate sources of proof for each event.
6. Everything is speculation until verified by certificates etc.
7. Always photocopy original documents and keep originals safe and a shoebox for doubtful connections.
8. If a document exists read it and store information in your shoebox until it's verified.
9. Join a society or group or use websites such as Ancestry UK or Genes Reunited to help you.
10. Share your information with others, there could be a link.