Sileby History
Its people and places. A community through time.
POPULATION
Population - Numbers
Sources of Population and Estimates
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No specific census type assessments have survived for Sileby parish before 1793. For that reason it is very difficult to get truly accurate population figures before then. Surviving historical sources are limited as to their original purpose, so they may only record taxpayers, tenants or numbers of households, not population directly.
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Therefore, establishing population numbers before 1800 relies on calculating estimates. This involves multiplying numbers of households by projected household size, a number that demographic historians generally calculate between 4 and 5. So, if household numbers are 100 for example, the population would be estimated at between 400-500 people based on the very simple method illustrated.
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However, this does not take into account changes in household size due to specific local conditions such as reducing/rising fertility levels, health, poor administration of officials, etc. It is very much a 'best guess' method.
Crowds at Dudley's Bridge, 1939
Sileby Population Sources before 1800
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Figures for Sileby's population shown here are derived from many types of sources, but only the Nichols' quote of 1793 is an actual and proper population listing. The majority of the figures below are 'best estimates' and come with a note as to why they should be used with some caution for anyone wishing to use them elsewhere. From the figures it is easy to see that calculating population is not a perfect science and has many pitfalls. Some have also used parish register data to estimate population. Sileby's earlier registers (particularly during the mid to late 17th century) are prone to omissions and difficult to read. The rise of nonconformity also means that not all resident families may be captured in the registers.
Date Source
1086 Domesday Survey
4 serfs in demesne, 18 villeins, 4 sokemen and 4 bordars
c1340 Segrave Feodary
20 freeholders, 50 customary tenants, 33 Demesne tenants, 22 toft holders, 15 cottagers (possible households are 22 freehold messuages, 43 customary messuages and at least 12 cottage holdings = at least 77 'households')
1377 Lay Subsidy - Poll Tax
142 names , 21 servants, 10 mercatores and 24 operaii
1563 Diocesan Population Return
78 Households
1603 'Liber Cleri' : Communicants & Recusants
341 Communicants
1670 Hearth Tax
67 paid, 52 exempt = 119 households
1676 Compton Ecclesiastical Census
301 Communicants
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c1720 Speculum Lincoln Diocese
130 families
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1787 Householders living in Sileby Manor
153 names
1793 John Nichols, History of Leicestershire Vol.3 part 1:
data from John Dudley, Vicar of Sileby
978 inhabitants, 204 houses (= average 4.8 household size)
Limitations to the data
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Not everyone included? Survey is about taxable wealth not a person headcount.
A list of manorial tenants and their holdings, so may include outsiders. Not a population or house count. Under representation due to lack of records for subletting, etc. Plus date ?pre Black Death
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Unknown level of tax evasion and % of children. Did all servants/labourers live in.
?under recording
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?unknown % that are too young to take communion (between 33% and 40%?)
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Unknown levels of tax evasion, if any.
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?unknown % that are too young to take communion (between 33% and 40%?)
Cannot corroborate with other sources.
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Under recording, unknown how much subletting of property occurs.
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Unknown how the count was undertaken and for what reasons. John Dudley not in office at that time.
Population - Census
Census Returns 1801 to Date
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The decennial (every 10 year) census began in 1801 and has continued every 10 years with the exception of 1941, due to the war. The first four censuses (1801 to 1831) were chiefly headcounts, with little or no personal information. Although a small number of fuller, older census records exist for some settlements, none exist for Sileby.
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The 1841 Census was the first national survey to intentionally record names of all individuals listed in a household or institution. However, enumerators were ordered to round down the ages of all those over the age of 15, a rule which was sometimes overlooked. This rule was phased out for the 1851 Census when actual full ages were used.
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The lists in the census continued with columns occasionally added so that government statisticians could ask specific questions, e.g. disabilities.
The census of 1921 will be the last available until the 1951 census is accessible due to the 1931 returns being destroyed during a fire in 1942 and the 1941 census not being undertaken.
James Newbold & family c1895
Census Date
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England Census 1801 - Tuesday, 10 March 1801
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England Census 1811 - Monday, 27 May 1811
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England Census 1821 - Monday, 28 May 1821
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England Census 1831 - Monday, 30 May 1831
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England Census 1841 - Sunday, 6 June 1841
​ England Census 1851 - Sunday, 30 March 1851
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England Census 1861 - Sunday, 7 April 1861
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England Census 1871 - Sunday, 2 April 1871
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England Census 1881 - Sunday, 3 April 1881
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England Census 1891 - Sunday, 5 April 1891
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England Census 1901 - Sunday, 31 March 1901
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England Census 1911 - Sunday, 2 April 1911E​
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England Census 1921 - Sunday, 19 June 1921
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England Census 1931 - Sunday, 26 April 1931
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No 1941 census
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England Census 1951 - Sunday, 8 April 1951
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England Census 1961 - Sunday, 23 April 1961
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England Census 1971 - Sunday, 25 April 1971
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England Census 1981 - Sunday, 5 April 1981
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England Census 1991 - Sunday, 21 April 1991
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England Census 2001 - Sunday, 29 April 2001
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England Census 2011 - Sunday, 27 March 2011
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England Census 2021 - Sunday, 21 March 2021​​
Sileby
Population
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1111
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1200
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1328
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1491
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1473
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1660
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1572
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1766
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2033
2380
2752
3082
3202
3598
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4236
4421
5071
6392
6702
6875
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7835
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8959
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Sileby Census Data (Click PDF)
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Census: abstract 1801
Census: abstract 1811
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Census: abstract 1821
Census: abstract 1831 a b
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Census 1841: Heads of Household
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Census 1851: Heads of Household
Census 1861: Heads of Household
Census 1871: Heads of Household
Census 1881: Heads of Household
Census 1891: Heads of Household
Census 1901: Heads of Household
Census 1911: Heads of Household
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Laying of foundation stone for the Undenominational School (Redlands), Sileby
Monday, 27th October 1879
19th Century Sources
Other lists of Inhabitants from the 19th century
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The census is the best source of population data, especially after 1841 when all people were surveyed and recorded. This is important as other sources of villagers names are usually lists made for other purposes (e.g. electoral or tax) and do not cover the whole of the population. Poorer and non-property owning sections of the community are generally not represented.
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However, these other lists provide useful context by filling in other gaps, such as a person's status, home location, employment, political leanings, property ownership and so on.
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Electoral documents make up the bulk of these records, and a number still survive. Property ownership was at the core of the voting enfranchisement, and freeholders lists provide the evidence of eligibility to vote and to serve on juries.
A rating valuation list from 1897 records property owners and larger tenants at the turn of the 20th century.
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Sileby also has a useful listing of householders made by the vicar from 1875 to 1877 which was published in the parish magazine.
19th century Electoral Records
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Voting was not universal according to age as it is today. Before 1918, eligibility to vote largely came from property ownership. In 1832 it is estimated that only one in seven men (about 14%) could vote. Men had to wait until the Representation of the People Act 1918 for all males over 21 to be given a vote with no property qualifications. In the same Act women over the age of 30 who met a property qualification could also vote. It took women another 10 years to have the same right as men. In 1969 the voting age was lowered to 18.
It is relevant to note that before the Ballot Act of 1872, those who were eligible to vote had to declare their choice in public, a system that was open to bribery and intimidation. Secret ballots have only been in place for the past century and a half.
Record Type Date
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Poll Book 26-29th June 1818
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Register of Electors 1832
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Source
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ROLLR L.324
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ROLLR 5D33/393
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ROLLR QS 63/3/5
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ROLLR QS 63/3/23
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Transcript (Click PDF)
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19th century Freeholders Books and Jurors Returns
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Freeholders Books (and later Jurors Returns) are a record of men qualified to serve as a jurors compiled annually. Up to 1825 the qualifying criteria included those men aged between 21-70 and possessing freehold property worth £2 per annum, or those who held land by lease of a minimum value of £20 per annum (with certain other stipulations about how this land was held). The books also are an excellent record of trades and occupations for Sileby's freeholders and larger tenant farmers.
Transcript (Click PDF)
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A-Z Surnames
Source
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ROLLR QS 8/1/2-6
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ROLLR QS 8/2/31
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19th century Rating Valuation list
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A listing of Sileby rate payers, their land holdings along with the rate assessment, taken for the Barrow upon Soar Union in 1897.
Source
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ROLLR DE 3237/39
Transcript (Click PDF)
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List of Householders 1875-77
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The Parish magazine compiled a list of householders living in Sileby. It provides names and possible lodgers/tenants and was collated in a recognisable house to house walk around the village. A significant number of yards and courts are recorded, indicating how Sileby absorbed its growing population by subdividing former house plots.
Source
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Sileby Parish Magazine
'The Sileby Home Visitor'
Transcript (Click PDF)
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