THE ROYAL CRESCENT A HUNDRED YEARS AGO

A Portrait from the census returns of 1891

No	Head of House	Status	Age	Occupation	Other Occupants etc.
1	Alan Bowker	Married	52	Proprietor of Boarding House	12 lodgers, wife and 2 servants
2	Frances K Conant	Widow	76	Own means	Brother JP, sister in law, and 6 servants
3	Empty
4	Emma Studd	Widow	58	Own means	6 servants
5	John H Sperling	Married	66	Own means	wife w. daughter and 3 servants
6	Francis Buckhardt	Married	53	Own means	2 grown stir daughters and 3 servants
7	George Micklethwaite	Single	66	Major (Ret) JP	Niece (age 2.3) and 5 servants
8	John Churchill	Single	74	Colonial Service (Ret)	Sister (age 73) and 3 servants
9	William Henderson	Married	67	Ret, Bengal Civil Service	Wife and 4 servants
10	Anthony Hammond	Married	67	JP for Somerset	Wife and 5 servants
11	Henry Mann	Single	71	Own means	Sister (age 76) and 3 servants
12	lsaac Pitman	Married	78	Shorthand Pub. & Printer	Wife 2 grown up sons and 3 servants
13	Catherine Milsop	Widow	57	Own means	3 grown up daughters and 4 servants
14	Charles Mackillop	Widower	66	Own means	Married daughter (age 41), 3 grand children and 5 servants
15	John Stone	Married	72	Solicitor	Wife and 4 servants
16	William Braikenbridge	Married	73	J P for Somerset	Wife and 5 servants
17	Charles M Frith	Married	52	Manufacturer	2 grown daughters, 2 young sons, 10 servants inc 2 coachmen
18	Alexander Falconer	Single	64	Own means	2 servants
19	Rev. Edward Handley	Married	48	Rector of Northope	Wife, visitor and 9 servants
20	Percival Huth	Married	39	Own means	Wife, 2 daughters, 1 sort and 4 servants
21	Hannah Offley	Widow	73	Own means	3 servants
22	Lucy Scott	Widow	80	Own means	2 daughters (age 63 & 58), 8 servants
23	Ellen Peel	Single	67	Own means	3 servants
24	No record
25	No record
26	Empty
27	Hon Mrs F Walsh	Widow	57	Own means	3 servants
28	Flora Bruere	Single	60	Own means	2 younger sisters and 7 servants
29	Oriana Famming	Widow		Own means	6 servants – one assumes that the owner of the house was away and that the house was given over to lodgers
	Laura Anderson	(Lodger)		Own means
30	Fanny Hawkins	Widow	49	Own means	4 teenage children and 4 servants

The census returns only give a picture of whom was actually living in the Crescent on the night of the census of 1891. Some people may have beat away and there may have been servants who were not living in; visitors are usually recorded as such so we assume that the rest were permanent. In spite of the reservations about reading too much into the return of one night a fairly clear portrait emerges, that of elderly residents living in the main with elderly relatives on their own means.

The number of unmarried daughters or nieces living with relatives reads like Trollope and is a testimony to the position of women in the Victorian era. There were approximately 58 adults residing in the Crescent but they were supported by some 130 servants most of whom were young Housemaids, lady’s maids, parlour maids and nurse maids tended to be 20 to 30 years old though cooks and butlers were usually older, so in spite of the staid profile of the householders there must have been plenty of youthful activity and gossip in the Crescent. One wonders who used the lawn, maybe the nursemaids to Charles Mackillop's grandchildren or the teenage children of Mrs Hawkins.

Monica E. Baly