Leyton & Leytonstone

Historical Society

Cooper’s Lane, Leyton

How old parents were when their children were born

The census returns should be an excellent source of information on this subject, but the number of families in Cooper’s Lane over this period is limited, and not enough to feel confident that the figures give a fair impression.  The census does not show previous marriages.  For the purposes of this article children have been assumed to be living with their natural parents unless there is clear evidence that they were not.  The census returns do not give information for children who have died.  

The method here was to look within the returns for Cooper’s Lane at children born between 1841 and 1871, and at the ages of their parents when they were born.  The average age of the father for each birth, whether their first-born or later children, was 32, and the equivalent age for the mother was 30.  The census information does not specifically show which children were the their parents’ first, and as children grew older they were increasingly likely to live apart from their parents, perhaps becoming young live-in servants.

There was a surprisingly high proportion of couples in which the wife was older than her husband.   See Appendix 1.

A few closing comments

This article looks at the population of Cooper’s Lane between 1831 and 1871.  Houses were not numbered in that period.  It is therefore not possible to see how the occupants of any particular property changed over the years.

Too much faith should not be placed on the accuracy of statistics in this article.  They can be no better than the information on the census returns.  For Cooper’s Lane in 1851 and 1861 at least these were either completed by men who were not very literate, struggling over the spelling of first names like Eleanor, or, less likely in my opinion, anxious to write down how the residents, whatever their ability to read and write, thought their names were spelled.  The forms look carelessly written.  It is a frequent occurrence throughout England that the age given for a person at one census is inconsistent with that given for the same person at a later census, by a year or two or more.  Family historians have learnt to be sceptical about the accuracy of much information.  Those answering questions must often have feared that what they said would affect any claim they might make for poor relief.  Some people do not appear in a census when other information suggests they should.  They may have been away from home, but there are more gaps than might be expected for a time when it must have been difficult for poor people to travel.