Population
The total population of Staplehurst in the 1861 census was 1695
of which:

				Percent
	Males	Females	Total	of Total
under 1 year of age	18	25	43	2.5
1 to   5 years of age	111	115	226	13.3
6 to 12 years of age	146	151	297	17.5
13 to 20 years of age	135	123	258	15.2
21 to 30 years of age	119	108	227	13.4
31 to 40 years of age	117	110	227	13.4
41 to 50 years of age	82	64	146	8.6
51 to 60 years of age	75	64	139	8.2
61 to 70 years of age	43	44	87	5.1
71 to 80 years of age	20	16	36	2.1
Over 80 years of age	5	4	9	0.5
Total	871	824	1695	100.0

 

 

 The oldest man was William BUTCHER, an 88 year old  former agricultural labourer born in Maidstone while the oldest woman was 89 year old Ann PARRETT who was born in Heathfield Sussex.

 
 Marital Status

				Percent
	Male	Female	Total	of Total
Youngest married  (age)	21	18
Unmarried over 30	60	38	98	5.8
Married	285	287	572	33.7
Widowers	44	37	81	4.8

 Normal marriage age appears to be about 25 for women and 28 for men

           
 Place of Birth    

		Percent
		of Total
Born in Kent	1441	85.0
of which
born in Staplehurst	825	48.7
* born neighboring villages	272	16.0
Born other counties	219	12.9
of which
born Sussex	136	8.0
born Middlesex	26	1.5
Born other countries	6	0.4
of which
Ireland, Scotland & Wales	4	0.2

 * (Cranbrook, Marden, Frittenden, Headcorn and Goudhurst).

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Disabilities
Only five people were reported to have disabilities.

• 14 year old Henry Gibson (born Sittingbourne) and living with his parents was said to be blind.
• James Taylor, aged 72, was said to be deaf. He was living with his son and his son’s family.
• Elizabeth Farmer, the 37 year old wife of William, was said to be deaf.
• Mary Tampsett, aged 51 and unmarried, living with her parents, was said to be deaf and dumb since birth.
• Harriet Barns, 28 years old, unmarried and living with her parents was classed as an invalid.

Education
The children generally started school at 5 years of age although there were 7 children of 4 years reported as ‘scholars’. Very few children continued at school beyond the age of 12 or 13.

Only one 16 year old male was classed as a scholar and this was the son of Henry HOARE (the banker and land owner). Henry's daughter was a 17 year old scholar.

 

 Of the children between 5 and 11 years of age, 66.4% were classed as scholars in the 1861 census. The percentage attending schools for girls (66.7%) was broadly similar to the boys (66.2%).

Occupations
 

Females
In the 1861 census, 140 women were listed as having an occupation in their own right excluding scholars.
Most employed women worked as servants and related post. They are generally young and single. 

Female Occupations	No.
Servants	48
Maids	9
Charwoman	3
Cooks	5
Laundress	7
Housekeeper	15
Domestic Assistant *	10
Dressmaking	14
Seamstress & Needlewomen	3
Nurse	4
Schoolteachers & Governess (1)	5
Grocer	2
Assistant Draper	1
Ironmonger	1
Baker	1
Office Clerk	1
Post Office Assistant	1
Shoe Binder	1
Harness Maker	1
Farmer	5
Fund Holder & Land Owner	3
Total	140

 * A ‘domestic assistant’ is used to refer to an unmarried daughter assisting her mother to keep house. In contrast, when the head of the household does not have a wife, a housekeeper is employed. She is generally a female relative such as sister, mother.

 There are also 28 women with occupations which are recorded in terms of the husbands or fathers occupations. Examples are carpenter’s daughter or coachman’s wife. As the majority of women had no occupation entered, at least some of these (such as farmer’s wife) would have been actively involved in the husband’s occupation. 

Four women are classed as ‘Parish Pauper’. In each instant, this was later crossed out. 

Males

There were 567 men recorded with an occupation in the 1861 census. Agricultural laborers were the most numerous by far with 42.9% of all recorded occupations. All agricultural occupations accounted for 64.2% of the labour force while the trade professions accounted for a further 15.2%.

Agriculture
Agricultural Laborers	243
Carters	43
Farmers	45
Farmer’s Assistant / Son	14
Bailiff	18
Horse Keeper	1
	364
Trades
Blacksmith	7
Wheelwright	4
Coach Maker	2
Brick Maker	2
Brick Layer	10
Builder	2
Carpenter	13
Sheep Gate Maker	1
Sawyer	3
Timber Hewer / Surveyor/ Agent	4
Bark Hatcher	2
Lath Cleaner	2
Miller	4
Printer	4
Rat Catcher	1
Harness Maker	1
Shoe & Boot Maker	11
Tailor	8
Hairdresser	1
Birch Broom Maker	1
Grain Merchant	1
Labourers (stonebreaker & coal)	2
Total	86
Retail
Baker	2
Butcher	6
Grocer	9
Errand Boy	1
Beer Retailer	2
Draper	3
Ironmonger	1
Hawker / Pedlar	6
Total	30
Transport
Fly Proprietor	1
Coachman	1
Omnibus Coachman	1
Carrier	3
Railway Porter / Station Master/ Carriage Examiner	6
Railway Labourer / Plate Layer	6
Road Labourer	3
Toll Collector	2
Total	23
Post
Letter Carrier / Post Boy	4
Mail Cart Driver / Contractor	4
Post Master / Post Office Clerk	4
Telegraph Clerk	1
Total	13
Servants
Domestic (Butler, footman, etc)	8
Gardener	11
Groom	6
Total	25
Professional
Banker	2
Rector / Minister / Preacher	3