Religious census (1851)

Post date: Nov 30, 2012 7:10:19 PM

In 1851 Lord John Russell's government decided to add a religious census, a statistical enquiry into resources already available for religious worship and their use, to the regular census that had been held every ten years since 1801. It involved counting the number of people attending each church on a particular day and a comparison with the church's capacity measured by the number of places available or 'sittings', which were in turn to be divided into those 'appropriated' and those 'free'. The census caused concern amongst the Anglican clergy that non-conformists would "pack" their churches to exaggerate their importance and in Kent some 52, out of 446, parishes had their return completed by the registrar rather than the vicar. Although there might have been a bias to exaggerate attendance on the other hand the survey was in winter when attendances were otherwise lower than in summer.

Nationally the conclusions of the census were

• just under a quarter of the population worshipped with the Church of England

• just over aquarter worshipped elsewhere

• half did not worship at all.

• the English attended church less than the Welsh and the Scots.

Horace Mann, the statistician in charge, concluded "a sadly formidable portion of the English people are habitual neglecters of the public ordinances of religion".

The census has been printed (1999) by Kent Archaeological Society (editor Margaret Roake)-Religious Worship in Kent: The Census of 1851 and most of this note is based on this publication.

The census shows an acreage of 1,420 acres in Wateringbury, with 29 inhabited houses, 4 uninhabited and 2 'building'. The population was 1,448.

St. John the Baptist- Ancient Parish Church, Wateringbury

Diocese of Canterbury. Consecrated before 1800.

Endowed with: tithe and Queen Anne's Bounty.

Sittings: Free 326 inclusive of children; other 230; total 556.

Attendance on 30th March: morning 300+108, total 408; afternoon 280+95, total 375.

Remarks: The morning estimate was by the churchwarden; the afternoon by the vicar-the attendance of children being less than the average being about 120.

Signed : Henry Stevens, Vicar of Wateringbury.

Date: 31 March 1851

Non-conformity was stronger in urban rather than rural areas of Kent but although there was no non-conformist church in Wateringbury there were in the following neighbouring parishes:

• Baptist Chapel in West Malling getting 509 attendances from 3 services.

• Wesleyan Chapel at East Peckham getting 261 attendances from 3 services.

• Plymouth Brethren at Yalding getting 40 attendances from 2 services.

• Primitive Methodists at Yalding getting 124 attendances from 2 services.

• Baptists at East Farleigh getting 130 attendances from 2 services.

• Weslyan chapel at Hadlow getting 32 attendances from 2 services.

• Baptist Church at Hadlow getting 364 attendances from 3 services.

Although Wateringbury's total of 783 attendances may include some people going twice in the day it represents some 55 % of the population at the time. Neither Nettlestead nor Teston had a non-conformist chapel/church and their total attendances to population were 41% and 75% respectively.