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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Leicestershire => Topic started by: swampinstein on Wednesday 22 July 15 20:27 BST (UK)

Title: what does this mean
Post by: swampinstein on Wednesday 22 July 15 20:27 BST (UK)
I was looking at a census and it says address......Northampton street in a yard
what does ...in a yard mean?
Title: Re: what does this mean
Post by: youngtug on Wednesday 22 July 15 20:34 BST (UK)
Probably a wagon or some other form of temporary structure. Usually a traveler.
Title: Re: what does this mean
Post by: dawnsh on Wednesday 22 July 15 20:37 BST (UK)
Without knowing exactly who you are looking at and the rest of the street on the census it's hard to comment

a lot of houses had a back yard, a small concrete area behind the property, could this be it?
Title: Re: what does this mean
Post by: swampinstein on Wednesday 22 July 15 20:49 BST (UK)
I think it was a slum area....didn't they have the houses so close together...maybe 4 together in like a square and they shared a yard
Title: Re: what does this mean
Post by: Annie65115 on Thursday 23 July 15 10:52 BST (UK)
That setup was common but usually called a 'court'. Do you have a reference so we can take a look?
Title: Re: what does this mean
Post by: diddymiller on Thursday 23 July 15 18:05 BST (UK)
it was also called a yard. we had several in Loughborough. some names still exist although the housing has changed.

could be any number of houses in the yard or court.

Diddy
Title: Re: what does this mean
Post by: diddymiller on Thursday 23 July 15 18:09 BST (UK)
City of Leicester:

 "A report of 1845 described the town's drains as 'more a menace than a relief'.  Most streets were quite without sewers. In 1849 it was reported that out of 242 streets and 347 alleys, courts, and yards, only 112 were fully culverted and more than half were without any sewers at all."
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/leics/vol4/pp251-302

Diddy
Title: Re: what does this mean
Post by: youngtug on Thursday 23 July 15 19:17 BST (UK)
 https://www.le.ac.uk/emoha/community/resources/braunstone/slum2.html

An example.
Title: Re: what does this mean
Post by: swampinstein on Thursday 23 July 15 21:50 BST (UK)
Thanks everyone x
Title: Re: what does this mean
Post by: TonyV on Thursday 23 July 15 22:45 BST (UK)
Yards and courts were in fact similar, if not identical. The term refers to a collection of primitive cottages built around a yard which was often accessed through a very narrow opening between the properties on the main street frontage. The yard houses were tiny and shared facilities such as water and toilets. They were usually built behind other houses and often adjacent to factories that supplied work to some of the yard dwellers. They lacked ventilation, light, space and the air was usually polluted by the smoke generated by the factories and the high density of houses all around. There would have been no drains and no rubbish collections. Often the properties were shared by families, particularly when some worked nights and others days.
Title: Re: what does this mean
Post by: youngtug on Thursday 23 July 15 23:09 BST (UK)
Not forgetting the tenement courts in places like Glasgow.
This one is in Glasgow.
                                http://www.theglasgowstory.com/images/TGSA00867_m.jpg   
Title: Re: what does this mean
Post by: youngtug on Friday 24 July 15 07:13 BST (UK)
A occupation of the person in question may help, also the street name and town.
 I have someone in a yard that is a showman, and the yard was behind a Inn / public house.
 I also have a person living in a shed,  he was an Ag, Lab. [on the next census he was in the workhouse.
Title: Re: what does this mean
Post by: Ruskie on Friday 24 July 15 07:24 BST (UK)
A occupation of the person in question may help, also the street name and town.

I agree - if you give us the details we might be able to work out which yard the person/s lived in, or at least give you an idea of the rough vicinity.

(there are all sorts of unusual addresses given on censuses - there have been threads on rootschat about them - I have someone living above stables - he was an ag lab  :))
Title: Re: what does this mean
Post by: stanmapstone on Friday 24 July 15 08:47 BST (UK)
The address is in the 1871 census RG10 Piece 3270 Folio 127 Page 19. The yard is between 28 and 30 Northampton Street, Leicester. There are two families, both the heads are seamstresses.

Stan
Title: Re: what does this mean
Post by: youngtug on Friday 24 July 15 08:59 BST (UK)
Interesting reading, especially nearly two thirds of the way down;
   https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2013/who-do-you-think-you-are/gary-lineker-6/
Title: Re: what does this mean
Post by: stanmapstone on Friday 24 July 15 09:30 BST (UK)
In the 1901 Census it is called Garners Yard. Both houses had 2 rooms, there is only one person in each house. RG13 Piece 3006 Folio 99  Page 10

Stan
Title: Re: what does this mean
Post by: swampinstein on Sunday 26 July 15 19:30 BST (UK)
my ancestors lived there in 1871...number 30...looking at the census
Title: Re: what does this mean
Post by: swampinstein on Sunday 26 July 15 19:53 BST (UK)
It's my 4th G Grandparents...William and Jane Dicks
In 1871 Jane was living Northampton st in a yard with her husband and daughter.  ...In 1861 Jane was living with her daughter....12 Albion place, there was no William. I did find him living Websters yard,
Wonder why Jane and William were living separate in 1861, yet together in 1871
Title: Re: what does this mean
Post by: stanmapstone on Sunday 26 July 15 21:58 BST (UK)
my ancestors lived there in 1871...number 30...looking at the census

30 is the schedule number (crossed out and 32 in the margin), they were living at 59 Northampton Street, not in a Yard, which refers to the preceding schedules 28 /30 and 29/ 32.

Stan
Title: Re: what does this mean
Post by: iolaus on Sunday 26 July 15 22:14 BST (UK)
.In 1861 Jane was living with her daughter....12 Albion place, there was no William. I did find him living Websters yard,
Wonder why Jane and William were living separate in 1861, yet together in 1871

Don't forget the census only gives where they were staying that night - not where they were living - it may have been Jane was staying with her daughter to help her (especially if her daughter gives birth around the time of the census) - I assumed one of my grandmother's aunts had died by the 1911 census as she wasn't on there and found a death which kind of matched in 1909 (aunt was Kate and death was Katherine) - but then my nan mentioned Aunt Kate in the 1960s.  Turned out Kate was staying at her Aunt's that night
Title: Re: what does this mean
Post by: Ruskie on Sunday 26 July 15 22:14 BST (UK)
Wonder why Jane and William were living separate in 1861, yet together in 1871

The census was just a snapshot of one night - 7 April 1861. If Jane was with her daughter maybe she was simply visiting for the evening. It does not necessarily mean that the couple were no longer living together.  :-\

SNAP iolaus.  ;D
Title: Re: what does this mean
Post by: swampinstein on Monday 27 July 15 21:43 BST (UK)
But wouldn't that make her a lodger/visitor not the Head?
Title: Re: what does this mean
Post by: stanmapstone on Tuesday 28 July 15 11:20 BST (UK)
She was the Occupier who had to fill in the Householder's Schedule, as the head of the family living there. This is what the Schedule says

Stan