Sponsored by  

Harby  Limited

The information is taken from the records numbered RG 10/3296 held in the Public Record Office and was compiled some 25 yeas ago. 

Total Population 539
Children under 16 -188 (Boys  - 86, Girls - 102)
People over 60  - 59 (Men  - 26, Women  - 33)

Children

There was a total of 188 children under the age of 16 living in the village. They consisted if 86 boys and 102 girls, of these 67 children were under five years of age. There were 23 children under the age of 16 who were out it work. The youngest was a boy of 11 and the next, one of 12, who were agricultural labourers. With the exception of a boy of 15 who was a tailor's apprentice and a boy of 14 who was a horse dealer, all the other boys worked on the land either as farm servants or agricultural labourers. Of the five girls working, one helped her father who was a licenced Hawker and one little girl helped her widowed mother with dressmaking. The rest of the girls were general domestic servants. There was a total of 90 children either attending the village school with certificated schoolmaster, a schoolmistress and an assistant schoolmistress (these being mother and daughter) or being taught by a governess. The latter was a family with 7 children who had their own governess, a girl of 18.

How many of these children stayed at home to study or went to the village school or were sent away to school cannot be worked out.

Occupations of men and boys

Builder
Builder Assistant 1
Cordwainer 2
Carpenter 4
Carrier 2
Tailor 4
Tailor's Apprentice 1
Painter 2
Wheelwright 3
Shoemaker 1
Cottagers 9
Rector 1
Boatman + 2 sons 3
Boatowner 1 
Gardener 1
Butcher 1
Butcher's apprentice 1
Clerk/corn merchant 1
Wharfinger + Son 2
Blacksmith and Farmer 1
Grocer, miller, and baker (father, son and daughter) 2
Miller 4
Foreman Miller 1
Grocer 1
Innkeeper/Farmer 1
Brickmaker 2 
Draper 1 
Linen Draper Apprentice 1 
Horse dealer (father & son) 2 
Schoolmaster 1 
Tinman and Brazier 1 
Miller's Carter 1 
Joiner and Publican 1 
Licenced Hawker (son and daughter help) 1 
Artisan Blacksmith 1
Canal labourer 1 
Cattle dealer 1 
Sawyer 1 
Thrashing machine driver 1 
Farmer (1 also butcher) 16 
Agricultural Labourer 65 
Farm Servant 7 
Grazier 4 

Occupations of women and girls

Housekeeper 11 
Housekeeper's assistant 1 
General Servants 26 
Dressmaker 13 
Lace runner 2 
Lace maker 1 
Nurse 2 
Schoolmistress (mother & daughter) 2
Charwoman 1 
Dairy maid 1 
Governess 1
Rector's family servants
Nurse 1 
Cook 1 
Ladymaid 1 
Housemaid 1 
Parlourmaid 1 

Working population 

Men. 

From,the charts it can be clearly seen that the main occupations of the menfolk of the village are associated with the land, farming and general labouring of the land, also associated industries like milling, grazing, corn merchants and the upkeep of canals which were used for the transport of goods and buildings.

There were 16 farmers, nine farming 100 Acres and 9 cottagers. In most cases the sons of the farmers assisted in the running of the farm, and the whole family usually assisted the cottagers. A few of the men had dual occupations such as farmer and innkeeper, clerk and cornmerchant, miller, wharfinger and grazier, grocer, miller and baker.

Meanings of some of the occupations 

Wharfinger - a person who owns or takes charge of a wharf. 

Sawyer - a person who sawed wood. In summer converted felled timber for easier transport and worked at saw yards. In winter, he helped wheelwrights. 

Wheelwright - a person who made and repaired wheels. 

Artisan Blacksmith - a very skilled craftsman,

Tinman and Brazier - a worker in brass and  tin. 

Grazier - a person who grazed cattle on pasture land. 

Women 

Unless they were widowed or unmarried, most of the women stayed at home and looked after their families. Opportunities open to girls leaving school were very limited. Jobs were mainly in the domestic line, as general servants to the more prosperous families or assisting parents, either on the land or dressmaking, etc. The schoolmistresses were mother and daughter and the Rector's family as seen from the chart employed 5 women living in to assist the running of the rectory besides the staff who would come in daily. 

Meanings of some of the occupations. 

Ladymaid - saw to the lady of the house's requirements, in the way of dress, toilet and early morning tray, and accompanied her on visits. 

Housemaid - generally helping with household cleaning.

Parlourmaid - helped the Butler or, if no Butler, saw to laying and waiting at table and other household duties. 

Housekeeper - usually employee to allow the lady of the household to be free from the concerns of running the house or when the man of the house was unmarried or widowed. 

People over 60 

There were 59 senior citizens or old age pensioners, as we would refer to them today. That is, men over 65 and women over 60, of which 26 were men and 33 women. The oldest inhabitant was a man of 84, followed by a lady of 82 and then a man of 81 who was still working as an agricultural labourer. Except for a few cases, the majority of men were still working at 65 and then supporting their families. In the case of women, they usually carried on with the farm or trade, if widowed, or continued in service as a dressmaker, housekeeper etc. 

No. of families in Harby with the same name 

Allen 2 
Baguley 2 
Barkie 1 
Barnes 1 
Beck 1 
Brooks 1 
Brown 1
Bouser 1
Coy 6 
Dickinson 1 
Dickman 2 
Dyer 1
Dunsmore 1
Elliott 1
Freck 4 
Furmidge 1
Gibson 3
Goodson 3 
Green 1 
Greenwood 3 
Gregg 2 
Gregory 1 
?Hainsworth 1
Hale 1 
Hall 1 
Hardy 1 
Harwood 1 
Haywood 1
Herrick 1
Hitchcock 1
Hule 1
Isam 1
Jackson 1
Kemp 4
Knapp 2 
Lamin 4 
Mabbott 1 
Manchester 5
Marriott 1
Marshall 1
Medley 1
Monks 1
Moulds 2 
Musson 4
Norman 1
Pick 1
Pickard 2 
RolIinson 1 
Rose 2 
Sharpe 1 
Shipman 1 
Smart 1 
Smith 5 
Starbuck 6 
Stevenson 1 
Stokes 1 
Sumner 1 
Swift 1 
Towle 1 
Vears 1 
Ward 1 
Watchom 6 
Welsh 2 
Wesson 6 
Weston 1 
Whittaker 1 
Whittle 3 
Wright 1 

Family names 

There were 125 families living in Harby in 1871. Of these there were 21 with 4 or more children. One family had 7 children,, 2 sons and 5 daughters, and 3 families had 6 children. There were 11 people living in their own, and 24 families consisting of two people living together. These were usually husband and wife, but sometimes a grandparent and grandchild, or just a parent and child. In a few cases it was found that grandchildren lived with grandparents as, on occasions did nieces and nephews. In a few families there was "living in" help. 


The most common family names in 1871 were: COY, FRECK, KEMP, LAMIN, MANCHESTER, MUSSON, SMITH, STARBUCK, WATCHOM and WESSON.

Birth Places 

There was a total of 539 people living in Harby in 1871. Of these, 328 were born in Harby, about 60% of the total population. 64 people were born within 5 miles of Harby, 62 within 10 miles, and 30 within 20 miles of Harby. Thus about 90% of the total population were born within 20 miles of Harby. Of the remainder, 16 were born in Leicestershire, 4, in Rutland and 5 in Lincolnshire. 2 came from Gloucestershire, 2 from Herefordshire, and 1 from each of the following: Malvern,Abbots Langley in Hertfordshire, Woolston in Hants., Shardlow and Winster in Derbyshire and furthest a field, 1 from London, Manchester, Elm in Norfolk, Canterbury in Kent and one person was born in Ireland. 

It can be clearly seen that the vast Majority of people were born locally and never moved very far from their birthplace. Of those who were born further afield, one who was a wife and her mother married to a boatman, two nieces of 6 and one of 13, one a wife of a naval officer, a nurse, a schoolmaster and his wife and child, the children of a foreman, miller and the rector's wife and her mother. It can be seen that these women had met their husbands when they were moving about, because of their work, and likewise, the children were born when the family was moving round. 

Size of Village 

The names of the roads in Harby in 1871 were

Burden Lane - 8 houses 
Step Lane  - 44 houses 
Stathern Road  - 12 houses
Centre of village  - 18 houses 
Nether Street  - 41 houses
Langar Road  - 4 houses 
Colston Road  - 6 houses 
Waltham Road  - 4 houses 
Hose Road  - 2 houses 
Rectory  - 1 house 

 Click on Rameses the grasshopper  to jump back to the top of the page

Copyright © 2000 Harby Limited, All rights reserved.
Revised: July 25, 2002 .