Data Source
The original data is in the custody of the National Archives in the UK. The enumerator books have been filmed and can be found in some local archives, libraries and Family History Centres. Dependent on the area of interest, there are some surname indexes available and I would recommend you contact the Family History Society for the county of interest. The Kent Family History Society has various indexes available including the 1871 census for Staplehurst which is available on CD. Ancestry.com have a copy of the 1871 census for all of England available on-line. It is indexed and you can view copies of the enumerator pages.
 

Data Reference :  TNA(PRO) RG10 /938
TNA is The National Archives which was previously known as the Public Records Office (PRO). RG10 is the reference for the 1871 census while 938 is the piece which includes Staplehurst. The Centre for Kentish Studies in Maidstone holds a copy of the data under reference CKS 1871, film number 25.

Census Date:   02 April 1871.

Quality of Data
I have transcribed this data from a copy of the film held at the Centre for Kentish Studies in Maidstone. Like all transcriptions, there will be errors which I will apologize for in advance although the use of this data is at your own risk. If you do find errors in the transcription, please notify me and I will correct. You will find my contact information from the home page.

Some pages are extremely difficult to read due to fading of the writing. Other pages are difficult to read due to the quality of the original writing. I have done the best I can.

You need to also note that the spelling of names is transcribed as written and this may well differ to what you expect.
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Regional Description
County of Kent
Registration District: Maidstone
Registration Sub-District: Marden
Ecclesiastical Parish: Staplehurst
Number of Enumeration Districts 6, 7, 8.
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District
The first column headed contains the District. Staplehurst was divided into 3 enumeration districts (6, 7, and 8) for this census. The description of the districts is copied from the census book as follows.

District 6 - The whole of the village of Staplehurst including The Rectory, The Cottages, Bly Court, Loddenden, Mr. Butcher’s Farm, Windmill Cottages, and the Cottages in Bell Lane.

Enumerator: John Samuel Tapsfield.

District 7 – Part of the parish of Staplehurst, comprising all the houses and cottages on the west side of the Turnpike Road leading from Maidstone to Cranbrook (except the village) including Great Pagehurst, Little Pagehurst, Little Dourn, Great Dourn, Brickkiln Farm, Staplehurst Plain, Little Hartsheath, Great Hartsheath, Bounds End, Knoxbridge Cottage (west), Toll House, Fuller House, Staplehurst Wuarter (west), Chapel Cottages, Cuckold’s Corner, Railway Station and cottages, Wards Cottages, and Hartleys.

Enumerator: Thomas Reeves

District 8 – Part of the Parish of Staplehurst comprising all the houses and cottages on the Eastside of the Turnpike road leading from Maidstone to Cranbrook (except the village) including Hospital Farm, South Eastern Railway Hotel, Hotel Cottages, Station Masters House, Pear Tree Cottages, Sweetlands, Cross-at-Hand Cottages, Great & Little Newstead, Slaney Place, Little Slaney (or Carley’s Farm), Little Sills Hill, Milkingpail Farm, Chickenden, Thorps Farm, Great Spills Hill, Cradducks Cottages, Exhurst, Maplehurst, Little & Great Wadd, Knoxbridge Cottages (East), Iden, Old House, and Staplehurst Place. (All the houses in Staplehurst Quarter (East), have been pulled down recently).

Enumerator: William Taylor


There is an excellent map on the  Old Maps  web site dating from 1873 which clearly shows many of the larger farms.
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Folio
The second column holds the folio number as defined by the TNA with the addition of the character ‘a’ or ‘b’ with ‘a’ being the left hand page and ‘b’ being the right’. This forms part of the reference number for the data.

Household
In the column marked ‘HH’, the enumerator recorded a number against each household. For each district the number restarts at 1.
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Address
The address column includes the address as recorded by the enumerator. Many of the houses in the village are just recorded as High Street but most of the farms and bigger houses are identified.

Names
The first name and surname are included in separate columns. These can be difficult to read at times and when in doubt, I have indicated so with a ‘?’. Spelling is transcribed as written in the original.

Relationship
The relationship column records an individual’s relationship to the Head of the household.

Marital Status
In this column is recorded for all adults their marital status. The abbreviations used are:  W = married, U = unmarried, W = widow or widower.

Ages
Ages are in 2 columns, M for male and F for female. The enumerator recorded the actual age of the person in years except those children under 1 and then it includes the number of months (m), weeks (w), and a couple of times days (d).
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Occupations
The occupations are recorded. The term Ag. Lab. stands for Agricultural Labourer and covers many trades in farming. In some cases, the data has been modified when the enumerator was summarising the data. Generally it is domestic added to servant or similar these changes are noted in brackets.For farmers there is generally included the number of acres which I have abbreviated to 'a' and the number employed which again has been abbreviated to 'emp'.

Where Born
The persons place of birth is generally given as parish and county. I have split these into 2 columns for ease of analysis.
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