As a result of the Local Government Act of 1894, Parish Councils overseeing Civil parishes were fully reinstated or created, primarily to do away with the huge parishes (ecclesiastically based) which otherwise existed in some parts of the country. The 1901 census was undertaken using the civil parishes as the delineating boundaries.
In this area there were THREE civil parishes which include Leverstock Green Results: St. Mary's Hemel Hempstead; St. Michael's Rural and Abbots Langley. (Nash Mills was created later in the 20th century.) The civil parishes were based on the old Ecclesiastical parishes for the most part, and Leverstock Green had developed over the centuries to include parts of all three of these parishes. With the establishment of a church of its own, the ecclesiastical parish of Holy Trinity Leverstock Green in 1901 straddled all these three. See A Church for Leverstock Green.
The Hertfordshire Village Book by The Hertfordshire Federation of Women's Institutes recorded the fact that the 1901 census showed that there were 163 inhabited houses with a population of 649, an apparent decline. (Probably due to how the figures are calculated, and change in boundaries) [S 36 p.107 ]
Unfortunately according to the census returns I have at my disposal, this figure is slightly inaccurate, and the breakdown should be as follows;
Similarly the breakdown of inhabited dwellings by Civil Parish, also differs from that recorded by the WI. It is however very strange, that the WI population figure is larger by 4, yet the number of dwellings they give is smaller by 3.
1901 Census Breakdown of Inhabited Dwellings
in Leverstock Green by Civil Parish
Abbots Langley 43
St. Michaels 60
Hemel Hempstead53
TOTAL166
Initially only the results from Abbots Langley and St. Michael's areas were available from the PRO census website as for some reason only enumeration districts 1, 2, 4 & 5 from Hemel Hempstead were added to their data base - district 3 the Leverstock Green district, is unfortunately missing! However, through a very helpful member of staff at the PRO I was eventually able to download them via a different route. July 2006 - I have now finished transcribing the census returns for all three civil parishes within Leverstock Green, and am now able to start analyzing the information.
A full list of surnames is now published here, (See Left)
PLEASE VISIT THIS PAGE AGAIN IN THE FUTURE I'M ADDING MORE ALL THE TIME
Civil & Ecclesiastical Boundaries
The 1901 Census for England was taken on the night of 31 March 1901. The following information was requested: Name of street, avenue road, etc.; house number or name; whether or not the house was inhabited; number of rooms occupied if less than five; name of each person that had spent the night in that household; relationship of person enumerated to the head of the family; each person's marital status; age at last birthday (sex is indicated by which column the age is recorded in); each person's occupation; whether they are employer or employee or neither; person's place of birth; whether deaf, dumb, blind, or lunatic.
Enumeration forms were distributed to all households a couple of days before census night and the complete forms were collected the next day. All responses were to reflect the individual's status as of 31 March 1901 for all individuals who had spent the night in the house. People who were traveling or living abroad were enumerated at the location where they spent the night on census night. All of the details from the individual forms were later sorted and copied into enumerators' books, which are the records we can view images of today. The original householders schedules from 1841 to 1901 were destroyed.
Details concerning the rest of the villagers' occupations.
LEVERSTOCK GREEN'S HOUSEHOLDS IN 1901
Of the 166 inhabited dwellings within Leverstock Green, 93 of them, that is 53%, had 4 rooms or less. Of these, 2 had only 3 rooms, 1 had only 2 rooms and one dwelling at Adeyfield Farm, occupied by 70 year old Eliza Kentish, had only the one room.
Most households were of 2 – 5 inhabitants, with only 10 households of 8 or more. The three largest households of 10 or more were Leverstock Green Farm (10), The Three Horseshoes Public House (12), and PC Sharp’s residence at 3 Leverstock Green (11), now known as 3 Church Cottages. See page on Church Cottages. Their respective details are shown below: Other large households included
Matthew Leno Junior’s family at Westwick Row Farm, their 7 children ranging from 7 to 22. Other members of the Leno family also resided in the village with Matthew Leno Senior (77) and his young wife Ellen (33) at Cox Pond Farm, and another of Matthew’s sons, Edgar at Hill Farm with his wife and her brother and his family (See section on M L and his poultry, and other photos)
The Latchford family along Westwick Row which included 3 unmarried adult children, and a married daughter and her three children of 5 and under
George Wilkins, an agricultural labourer and his family in one of the 4 roomed Well Farm Cottages, Bedmond Road
Farmer Thomas Childs and family at North End Farm
Agricultural engine driver George Cole, his wife Sarah
and their 7 children aged from 3 to 18. They lived
somewhere along Leverstock Green Road between Hill Farm
and The Crabtree.
The Vicarage. The Vicar’s household consisted of Arthur & Alice Durrant, their 2 daughters Lorna (14) & Enid (3), Alice Durrant’s brother Theodore Pelley, a cook (Elizabeth Hyett aged19), Enid’s nurse Harriet Littlechild and another domestic servant Rose Lee (14). The Durrants’ son, Michael was presumably at boarding school at the time of the census. (Refer to page on the family)
William Parkins (L) with his fish cart
and son Thomas.
Taken much later
ABOVE:Lydia Parkins and her sons.
LEFT: Willliam & Lydia Parkins. William died aged 54 in 1916.
A painting of the Vicarage thought to have been painted by the Rev. A Durrant.
For further details on the Durrant Family click here.
BELOW: LEVERSTOCK GREEN'S LARGEST HOUSEHOLDS IN 1901
LEFT: Alice & William Sharp
RIGHT: William & his 3 sons, WW1
The Three Horseshoes, where the Filbees lived.
Leverstock Green Farm, home of the Knox-Harts.
Some of the dwellings on the Village Green at the turn of the 20th Century.
LEFT: The Sharpe familuy taken in Stevenage about 1885 shortly before moving to Leverstock Green.
L-R: Grandpa William Sharp, Betsey Annie, Grandma Alice holding Winnifred, Charlie, Harry.
Front Row L-R: Sarah, Emma, Helen, Alice, William
From information received from a decendant of Herbert Filbee, William had had a distinguished career in the Metrapolitan Police Force before moving to the Three Horshoes a few years earlier.
THE LEVERSTOCK GREEN CHRONICLE
an in-depth history of one village in Hertfordshire UK.
Click to link to principle LG Chronicle web pages.
