Early Population Lists
In addition to the national census returns, the Archive Service holds some earlier lists of population for specific places in the county. These can be useful for studying the size of local settlements and tracing certain members of particular communities.
A List of Families in the Archdeaconry of Stafford, 1532-1533 is the earliest and most geographically comprehensive document of this type. It is held at Lichfield Record Office, but has been transcribed and printed by the Staffordshire Record Society (Collections for a History of Staffordshire, 4th series, volume 8, 1976) and is available at all our offices. The document lists about 51,000 names arranged by family unit within parishes and towns for most of the archdeaconry of Stafford. Latin is used to denote family relationships and status, as well as listing the curates and chaplains in parishes. This listing is not a census in the true sense as it omits some people (such as children who are mentioned but not named) and includes others who appear to have died before compilation began. However, it remains a useful source for linking people with places at this period.
Details of other pre-1801 list of population held by the Archive Service run as follows:
Staffordshire Record Office
Bilston 1695 – list of inhabitants with later annotations about death or removal (to 1710).
Stafford 1622 – list of householders for the town, includes number of children but not named.
Stoke-upon-Trent 1701 – list of inhabitants of townships of Clayton, Fenton Culvert, Hanley, Seabridge, Shelton and Stoke-upon Trent; arranged by household and gives names, family relationships and ages. Transcript available in Staffordshire Record Society’s Collections for a History of Staffordshire 4th series, volume 16 (held at all our offices).
Formerly held at Lichfield Record Office (closed Dec 2017), to be made available at Staffordshire Record Office in May 2018
Eccleshall 1626-1637 – Alphabetical list of inhabitants of the manor
Eccleshall 1693-1698 – Alphabetical list of tenants/householders of the manor; gives names of family members with ages and various comments, including activities of the families. Transcript available at Staffordshire Record Office.
Eccleshall 1693 – List of householders and heads of families in the parish.
Eccleshall 1697 – List of houses, owners and occupiers in the town
Lichfield 1695 – List of inhabitants of the whole city, arranged by street with the exception of the the Cathedral Close; microfiche and surname index at Lichfield Record Office, microfilm copy at Staffordshire Record Office.