1871-1881-1891 Censuses
Introduction
The 1839 Tithe maps for the Draycot Cerne estate were updated in 1870 and again in 1883, with coloured highlights and more detailed / depictions of the houses and other buildings. The later Censuses can be combined with this map, as well as the first detailed OS map of the area, which was surveyed in 1885.
Draycot Cerne
These Censuses for Draycot Cerne are enlightening, as they cover the end of the 'Wicked William / Viscount Wellesley' era and the transition to Lord Cowley. The 1861 Census shows that William Richard Arthur Pole-Tylney-Long-Wellesley, 5th Earl of Mornington, aka Viscount Wellesley, was 'absent', although there were still seven servants in residence in Draycot House. Wellesley was probably in Paris, where he died in 1863. He was buried in St James' Church, and his will bequeathed the Draycot Estate to his father's cousin, Henry Richard Charles Wellesley, 1st Earl Cowley. The subsequent Censuses record the transition from Lower Draycot to Draycot Cerne, the building of new houses in the former Upper Draycot, and the building of the new Draycot Rectory.
For more on the fascinating saga of the Draycot Estate see Tim Couzens: Hand of Fate: The History of the Longs, Wellesleys and the Draycot Estate in Wiltshire
Sutton Benger
Every Census tends to include more detail than the previous one from 10 years earlier; the 1891 Census included street names, and 'Park Lane' is recorded for the first time. The Park Lane baker was Jane Wright, although her assistant, Alfred Britton. would soon take over from her.
On the High Street, the house now known as Sutton House was occupied by William Havell and his family; both William and his son were drapers. On the other side of the entrance to Park Lane were the Butler sisters, the four daughters of Dr Butler who had been the village doctor around 1850. Two of the sisters would still be living in the house in the 1920s. Meanwhile, the GP's surgery had moved to The Bell House, where the doctor in 1891 was James Garlike.
Do you want to know more about your Sutton Benger / Draycot Cerne ancestors in the 1800s, or about your house? Please get in touch.
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Censuses & Surveys
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