Basingstoke census 1851

On census night, 30th March 1851, there were 4,262 residents, (2,113 male and 2,149 female), of whom just over half, 2,198, were born within 1 mile of the town, 526 were born within 2-5 miles and a further 404 within 5-10 miles. There were 97 visitors giving a place of birth other than Basingstoke who were not counted as residents in the analysis.

The transcript has 4,316 entries which include 4 houses being built and 52 unoccupied properties of all descriptions (47 houses). Not included in the count are three properties on the north side of Goat Lane in Eastrop parish, which was enumerated separately; for all practical purposes they are part of Basingstoke. Their omission from the data set analysed does not materially affect the statistics or the conclusions drawn.

The major conclusions drawn from the analysis give a picture of Basingstoke in 1851:
• Basingstoke was a working market town with the shops and services needed to support the agricultural hinterland. There were no obviously ‘exotic’ goods or services being offered.
• The town was still basically within its 17/18th century boundaries – it was just beginning to expand near the railway.
• There was no dominant trade/industry other than those based on agriculture, but the railways were becoming a major employer.
• The town was only slowly recovering from the devastating loss of trade and jobs in the coaching trade and its supporting industry caused by the arrival of the railway in 1839. Before the arrival of the railway there were 17 coaches a day to and from London, afterwards there was 1( Stokes Eric, The Making of Basingstoke, BAHS, 2008, p73). The Curtis family, who ran the most important coaching inn, The Angel in the Market Square, which had stabling for 100 horses, went bankrupt in 1851. The increase in population between 1841 and 1851 was only 4.8% compared to the national growth of 12.7%; previous to this the population growth had mirrored the national rate. It was still under the national rate in 1861 – 9.2% compared to 11.9% (Stokes Eric, The Making of Basingstoke, BAHS, 2008, p23).