Fairwarp and Duddleswell - a snapshot from 1921

In June 2025, John Manthorpe produced this information from the 1921 Census with thanks to Findmypast

‘Findmypast’ (FMP), a UK based genealogy service, won the contract to compile a digitised and publicly accessible record of the 1921 Census. FMP has kindly agreed that our Local History Society can include, on this our village website, data relating to Fairwarp and Duddleswell derived from their records.

The 1921 Census was taken on 19^th June of that year.  Census records remain secret for 100 years so this is the most recent publicly available. The records contain names, ages, addresses and occupations.

The source documents are the returns written in longhand by the Head of each household. The law required only those present at the address on the census night to be recorded.  This can mean that those normally resident might be elsewhere and similarly there maybe some on the returns who just happened to be staying the night at the address

Inevitably there are difficulties in deciphering some written names either because of the handwriting of the compiler or the quality of the forms after 100 years. It is also possible that some households, although required by law to complete the census return, did not do so. But the census provided a fascinating snapshot of life in our villages just over a century ago – just three years after the end of the Great War. 

Alfred and Ginny Allit

Like rural villages across the country Fairwarp and Duddleswell were largely farming communities, fairly self-contained with a church, pub, school, village shops, village policeman, blacksmith, wheelwright, boot and shoe repairer.  Two ‘big houses’, Duddleswell Manor and Oldlands Hall, employed many from the villages. Many of the men were farm or building labourers. Some had returned from military service in the Great War.  Few women were in paid employment.

Many of the families had descendants living in our area recently or even today.  The Coleman, Cottingham, Dadswell, Gorringe, Hazelden, Holford, Horscroft, Norman, Osborne, Reed, Ridley, Scott, Tester and Walter families all lived in our villages in 1921.

It does seem that some house names have changed during the last one hundred years. That would be an area worthy of some research by today’s occupants. Others described their address as simply ‘Fairwarp’ or Duddleswell.

Do look at the document linked below. It is fascinating to just scroll down the list of occupations. Some are rather grand like ‘Landed Proprietor’ and ‘Company Director’ in the case of Duddleswell Manor and Oldlands Hall, or formal such as ‘Policeman’ or Schoolmistress’,  but I particularly like the entry by one lady who described her occupation as ‘Raising a few chicks and a pig’.

This lady is also of note as the oldest person recorded in the census - just 80 years of age. A reflection of how life expectancy has changed over the years.

Villagers who would like to find out more about their family history will find a subscription to the FMP website will offer an excellent source of information.

THE 1921 CENSUS OF FAIRWARP AND DUDDLESWELL

THE MAIN CAST

The Vicar                                            James Berkeley Ince

The Innkeeper                                   William Osborne

Grocer and Postmaster (Fairwarp)   Frances Norman

Grocer (Duddleswell)                         Lillie Roberts

Schoolteachers                                   Amelia Burgess

                                                            Florence Burgess

Police Constable                                 Charlie Chatfield

Postman                                              John Hazelden

Stonemason                                        Epifania Hazelden

Blacksmith                                           Thomas Grant

Wheelwright                                        Ealm Apps

Carpenter                                             Philip Coleman

Thatcher                                               Alfred Walter

Brickmaker                                           John Holford

Boot and Shoe Repairer                       Ernest Walton

Organist                                                Margery Cottingham

Smallholders                                         Trayton Walter

                                                              Ephraim Wood

The Gentry                                            George Herbert Shakerley Ackers

                                                              Friedrich Eckstein

The Farmers                                           Alfred Allitt

                                                               William Burgess

                                                               William Cottingham

                                                               Thomas Faulkner

                                                               Frederick Hazelden

                                                               George Inns         

                                                               Thomas Marchant

                                                               Albert Osborne

                                                               Henry Ridley

                                                               Alfred Walter

                                                               Elizabeth Walter

                                                               Francis Whitewood

    **************************************************************

There were 126 households recorded in the Census comprising 559 residents

263  male     296 female

114 children under 14 years of age    -

14 residents in their 70s

Just one resident older - aged 80

Download the full list of residents, their occupations and where they lived here