Type details for 1841 Occupation reporting area

Full Description:

The 1841 census was the first to report in any detail on occupational structure, at a time when the Poor Law Unions/Registration Districts used by later 19th century censuses were not well-established. The census officials therefore used this very ad hoc set of areas to report occupational data. They were not based systematically on any particular administrative geography, but clearly tried to approximate boundaries of the main towns of the period. Many of the units are simply Boroughs and Parishes but they also include, for example: 'ROCHDALE PARISH, exclusive of SADDLEWORTH-WITH-QUICK CHAPELRY' and 'BOLTON, GREAT, TOWNSHIP, with BOLTON, LITTLE, CHAPELRY'. We also include as separate units the remainder of each county, enabling us to create complete maps from these data (the three Ridings of Yorkshire are listed separately). We have named each unit after the main town covered, but include the full label given in the census report in a note.