My book, Discover Gloucestershire Ancestors, lists the 10 pre-1841 censuses which include names as opposed to the merely statistical data that the government of the day required. They are from Arlingham, Aust, Bisley, Great Badminton, Hawkesbury, Horsley, Kemerton, Naunton, Stratton and Stroud.
Today, at Gloucestershire Archives, I discovered an 11th pre-1841 census – this one for Rendcomb. Dated 1831, it mentions 30 inhabited houses, the number of families in each and how many families are involved in agriculture, trade or other occupations.
Two columns identify the number of males and the number of females in each household but of most interest to the family historian are, of course, the names of the heads of each household. The surnames are: Reeve, Cox, Harding, Orchard, Price, Chappel, Hayward, Guise, Jayne, Williams (2), George, Trotman, Preston, Potter, Munday, Golding, Neal, Crump, Gegg, Barradine, Painter, White, Tayler, Griffin, Line, Newman and Burrows. Two properties did not have a head of household but were just called Barn Field and Marsden Farm but both had residents.
So – having found an 11th early census, I am wondering if there are more out there for the county – can anyone tell me of others?