Genealogy Chat

I'm a little confused - finally found my man fredrick o'brion (as spelt on 1881 census care of IGI) living as a lodger at 27 Berrington Street Hereford, which is fabulous. He is in the household with 14 others. When I click on the icon w hic allows me to see the next household and look at the address I see that that too is number 27 Berrington street housing 13 people with a different head of household. How come they have the same house number ? Any ideas :-) ???

Presumably it was a large house divided up into flats of some sort. Kate.

Must just be a big house, possibly set up as a boarding house ( its next door to the orphanage did you notice) Possibly a surpus 'wing' of the orphanage

In those days lots of houses were occupied by more than one family. People just rented rooms, and even if the houses were just terraced houses, they usually had quite a few rooms and people were often crowded into small spaces. Kath. x

Hi Michelle On the original image the head of the household that Fredrick is in gives her occupation as Lodging House Keeper which gives a clue as to what the building is! Also, the enumerator usually marks the end of a household by putting \\ after the name of the last person in the household. There is no \\ on the image between the two 27 Berrington Roads, therefore suggesting that it is all one household. Jeanette x

Thank you for your replies, i realise that they split houses but i didn't realise they fitted in that many people!!!! Jess, thank you I did spot that it was next to an orphanage, which i found quite interesting. I can't believe they could fit 27 people in to one split building - fascinating :-)

Thank you jeanette, I guess i'm not looking at details properly in my excitement!! I wonder if Lodging House keeper meant it was her lodging house or she kept it for someone ? I've not got back this far on my tree before and finding this census image is raising so many questions!!! Also, i notice that the people aged 13+ on this census image are marked as U for unmarried, but no markings for the obvious younger children. Did children get married off as young as 13 in those days?

Hi Michelle, My great grandfather and great grandmother were in a lodging house in Hartlepool on the 1901 census. The houses are still there today and are just large bay windowed Victorian terraced houses occupied by single families today. In 1901 there were 50 people listed as lodging there!!! Kath. x

The legal age for getting married was 12 for girls and 14 for boys right up until 1927, although very few got married this early. Kath. x

A bit of background - Was reading in The Times archive about some VIP visiting a poor area of London where there was regularly three or so families sharing a rented room. In one room there was five families totaling about 20+ people. Their sleeping arrangements were one family to each corner and one in the middle!! Obviously these people were pretty much destitute. I can't remember the date now, but was early Victorian, maybe 1840's. I dread to even begin to think about the sanitary arrangements for these families. Plus many were suffering with illness and or mental health/alcohol problems etc. Think I prefer my nice warm house. Makes me feel guilty when my kids come and climb all over me and I complain that there isn't enough room for us all!! MMM