Census of England and Wales 1911 (Methley)
The census was carried out for all persons present in the identified dwellings of Methley over the period Sunday night 2nd April, 1911 to Monday 3rd April am. Analysis for the village identified 952 dwellings, each one completing the following information under the supervision of an authorised enumerator.
Name and surname of all those present.
•Relationship to the identified head of the family.
•Age at the last birthday – male and female separately.
•Whether single, married, widow etc.
•Number of completed years of marriage.
•Children born during the period of the marriage and recorded as to those living and those who did not survive.
•Personal occupation or trade.
•Industry or service.
•Whether employed, self-employed or employed at home.
•Place of birth.
•Number of rooms in the household.
•Address.
A total of 4327 souls made up of 2256 males and 2071 females were enumerated on the date. At this point I am grateful to Jim Melvin for his permission to print census statistics published in his book ‘Methley2000.’
From this (1911) we can see that at the time of the census, there were 4.55 persons per house (A table of the population figures from the year 1871 to 1921 are appended at the end of this analysis).
Children recorded during marriages up to the 2nd April, 1911 is not a statistic of the year, however it is a reflection of the uncertainty of life during the period, say, 1860 to 1911. Here we observe that of 3840 births during this time 839 children did not survive. The census does not quantify the final age for a child to be identified, however I take this to be 0 – 13 years. Here, I think it would be reasonable to assume that the great majority of child deaths would have occurred in the very early stages of their lives. A mortality rate of the children of the families enumerated from 1860 to 1911 would be 22%, which means 1 in 5 children did not live to enjoy the benefits of Victorian industrial Yorkshire.
Equally surprising in this summary was the high number of boarder/lodgers which at 105 reflected both the number of migrant labourers seeking employment in this pit village (mostly from the West Midlands) and the limitations of shortfalls and inadequate housing stock in the village (see extracts from Council Minutes). This state of affairs is unlikely to differ with many of the developing industrial towns and villages in the country.
The total number of rooms was 3880 which works out at 4 rooms per house, (imagine a family of 10 in a two up and two down property, or for that matter a family of 5 and a lodger in a similar or smaller e.g two roomed accommodation). Chronic overcrowding proving to be a regular feature on so many census returns.
Obviously the biggest employers over the census period and the earlier census records were the coal mining companies. Here the census did not identify which pits the miners worked at. It is possible that some of the miners worked at pits outside of the village but then local pits would also employ men from outside of the village. The pits being worked over the period 1861 to 1911 were, Foxholes 1 and 2, Parlour Pit, Methley Junction, Newmarket and Savile.
Methley men employed in Coal Mining :-
1871 1881 1891 1911
626 887 999 1130
At the time of the 1911 census there were 104 men employed in farming.
Population Figures
Year Houses Population Males Females Inf
Total Source
1871 693 3277 1696 1581 Methley 2000
1881 818 4073 2137 1936 Methley 2000
1891 870 4329 2283 2046 Methley 2000
1901 890 4271 2240 2031 Histpop
1911 952 4327 2256 2071 Editor/Census
1921 4492 2328 2164 Histpop
Methley 1911 Census Most Common Surnames
Households with 4 Same Surnames
Atack, Beards, Brunt, Clark, Crewe, Dickinson, Dunnill, Ellis, Garforth, Grayson, Holmes, Jennings, Milner, Norris, Pyrah, Scott, Stainthorpe, Sunderland, Totty, Walton.
Households with 5
Ashton, Charlesworth, Cox, Hetherington, Miller, Hill, Potts, Shaw, Turner, Wheeler, Worrilow.
Households with 6
Anderson, Arundel, Backhouse, Firth, Fletcher, Harrison, Howson, Illingworth, Micklefield, Ripley, Sawyer, Websdale, Webster, Westmoreland.
Households with 7
Atkinson, Carr, Shillito. Wilkinson.
Households with 8
Bedford, Naylor, Robinson.
Households with 9
Inman.
Households with 10
Bell, Kaye.
Households with 11
Walker.
Households with 12
Taylor, Wilson.
Households with 15
Thompson.
Households with 16
Smith.
Households with 17
Green.
Households with 21
Jackson.
Households with 35
Wright.