Genealogy Chat

On this census document the head of house hold had to state if he or thse in his house hold spoke English or Irish.

On my GGF's census doc he stated they spake Broken English.

He further had to state whether he and his could read or write.

On the top right of the doc theres a box where the head of house hold had to state if the occupants of the house were idiot,moron,cretin or imbecile.
Surely they are medical terms?

On GGF's 1911 census doc it was filled in by my GGM.
She signed his name above which is a diagonal cross to the right of which it says HIS MARK.

Very Humbling.

The Irish census are great for the amount of detail they give aren't they, I was especially pleased to find records of the outbuildings.

"On the top right of the doc theres a box where the head of house hold had to state if the occupants of the house were idiot,moron,cretin or imbecile.
Surely they are medical terms?"

- no; that was how people were described in those days; a hundred years ago, names given to people and attitudes were quite different.

Yes, I agree, learning about and reading discoveries are humbling.

Happy hunting.

These definitions were in fact very specific:-

A lunatic = had periods of sanity.
An imbecile = some-one who had later in life become demented.
An idiot = was mentally handicapped by birth.
A moron = had a mental age of 8-12.
A cretin = had a mental retardation caused by thyroid deficiency.

Thank you Joy and Green Pen.

I should think we all run the risk of dementia in old age.
In my experience of these words they are used by others to belittle or to insult.
In 1911 I wouldnt think the average person would know the cause of cretinism.

The document was for civic and political usage.
Medical care of the house hold would be funded as the NHS had not been conceived.

What use would knowledge of the the mental capacity or ability of the individuals be on a census return?

The thing is at that time they weren't considered insulting at all.

I gather the definitions were issued with the census instructions, but take the point that the definition of Cretin was probably beyond the average householder.

Why was it on there? Presumably because the government of the day felt they needed to have the stats.

I assume that you want to know why they wrote broken English on the Census probably because the main Language of the household was Gaelic,
Gaelic was and still is in certain parts of the west of Ireland the main Language,E.G. Mayo, Galway, Donegal,Kerry and Cork as well as the Aran Islands and the Blasket Islands,
Betty.

"What use would ............................. be on a census return?"

- ah, some of us have asked that when completing a census return ourselves in recent times ;-)

They a good sense of humour but a reckon the average head of house hold would take great offence at members of his/her family being labled imbecile or idiot.I know I would.

This is quite a good read about it David and if you look at 1861 it does suggest the data was collected to see how well these individuals were supported, eg by charities, the conditions of the sufferers, services available to them and means of support, proportion of the people affected.

http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/text/chap_page.jsp?t_id=Cen_Guide&c_id=9

Thank you Ann.That's very informative.
I think many households that were uneducated would be unable to categorize any sufferers.





They might at best say he's not a full shilling or he's not playing with a full feck.