From the first statistics about divorce, to an increase in the number of widows and orphans in the aftermath of war and pandemic, the 1921 Census gives an insight into life 100 years ago.
According to new analysis based on the Census, one in nine women aged 15 and over (11 per cent) were widows in 1921. However, the increase was bigger for some age groups, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics.
For example, 1.3 per cent of women aged 25 to 34 years were widowed in 1911. By 1921, that had increased to 3.2 per cent of females in the same age group.
For men, five per cent of those aged 15 and above in 1921 were widowed. Census data only covered current marital conditions, so doesn’t include individuals who had been widowed but had remarried.
Not all widowed spouses would have lost their husband or wife through war or pandemic, but for comparison, 239,000 widows and 393,000 children received a war pension in 1921 in Britain.
Around 228,000 people were estimated to have died in Britain from Spanish Flu. It is thought that in the UK, the virus was spread by soldiers returning home from the trenches in northern France during World War I.
The 1921 Census was the first and only time that questions about orphanhood status were asked about children aged 14 and under. The figures helped prepare the financial framework of the Widows, Orphans and Old Age Contributory Pensions Act, 1925.
There were 730,845 children who had lost their father, and 261,094 who had lost their mother. Those who lost both parents numbered 55,245.
In some parts of England and Wales, around one in 10 children aged 14 and below had lost their father.
Of urban areas, Finsbury Metropolitan Borough in London had the highest percentage of fatherless children aged 14 and under (10%), while Hastings county borough in East Sussex and Bury county borough in Lancashire each had just under 10%.
The 1921 survey was also the first to include divorced as an option under marital status and showed that 0.06 per cent of people aged 15 and over were divorced in 1921 (16,682 people). The ONS said divorce was still relatively rare in England and Wales in 1921, and often a source of stigma and shame for those involved. It was also largely a preserve of those who could afford it. A raft of legislation followed in 1921 that put males and females on a more equal footing by providing further grounds for divorce other than adultery or violence.
While there was a slight increase in divorces in the late 1920s, dramatic increases were not seen until the mid to late 1940s. By the 1961 Census 0.8 per cent of people aged 16 years and over (of marriageable age) were divorced, and 9% were divorced or in a legally dissolved civil partnership by the 2011 Census.
The 1921 Census also collected information on how many rooms people had and how many people lived in their home. Hebburn urban district in the county of Durham had the least amount of living space on average, with just 0.59 rooms per person. Districts with the most number of rooms per person were primarily coastal or rural; Woodhall Spa urban district in Lincolnshire had the most space, with 1.82 rooms per person.
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