I’ve recently been able to add to the history of my family at the farm in Pilsley, Derbyshire thanks to the release of the 1921 Census by Find My Past.
Anthony Hays had bought the farm in 1909 and in the 1911 Census he is living there with his second wife Jane (nee Taylor) and his five children.
Anthony is 41, a coal miner and Jane is 39, they have been married for nine years and have seven children, only six surviving. Sarah and William are 18 and 15 respectively. They were both born in Pilsley and William is working as a pony driver. The three youngest children, John, Emanuel and Edmund were all born in Kirkby-In-Ashfield, just over the border in Nottinghamshire. The house has five rooms.
Moving forward ten years to the 1921 Census, Anthony is 52 and a horse keeper underground for the Pilsley Colliery Company, although he was, at the time, out of work. Jane is 49 and at home. John is now 18, Emanuel is 14 and working as a pony driver underground. Both are employed by the Colliery Company, while the 12 year old Edmund is at school. There are two additions to the family; Ruth Taylor Hays aged 8 and Isabella Hays aged 6, both born in Pilsley and both at school. Sarah Ellen and William Anthony, present on the 1911 Census, had both married before the 1921 Census. Sarah to Joseph Geeson and William to Edith Featherstone.
It’s possible to see the concerns of the time reflected in the questions asked on the Census. The living status of parents, how many children are orphans or fatherless, in the aftermath of WW1 is one. The school attendance status of children is another following the Education Act of 1918.
This Census release will be the last for some years. The 1931 Census was destroyed in a fire and no Census was taken in 1941 due to World War Two. So the next Census release isn’t due until 205, quite a wait!
Following the 1921 Census, Anthony bought two fields from the Chesterfield and District Co-Operative Society Ltd in March 1924, to increase the size of the property. On the 15th April 1939, Anthony sold the farm in its entirety to his son Emmanuel for the sum of £700 and retired. The 1939 Register taken on the 29th September that year sees Anthony and Jane living next door to Emmanuel in “The Nook”.
Jane died on the 31st May 1944. Anthony died on the 5th April 1945. Probate was granted to John Thomas Hays and Ruth Taylor Hays. Estate £1408 4s 11d
Caroline's Chronicles 