Taking count in Dublin

Sit down and start counting

Question: What is the connection between the censor and the census?

Answer: In Imperial Rome, the duty of the censor was to conduct the census.

However, the census in Imperial Rome consisted of drawing up a list of those citizens who were entitled to vote. In the event of a person being suspected of a crime, the censor had the authority to remove his name from the Voters’ List.

In this way, the censor became a feared figure in Rome, and over time, he acquired wide powers to govern public conduct.

In modern Ireland, the censor’s duties are completely separate from the conducting of the census. It might be added that a modern census is a census of the whole population and not simply a list of those entitled to vote.

The first attempt to count the population of Ireland was made in 1603 at the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth the First.

Several other attempts were made throughout the 17th and 18th centuries.

These usually involved estimating the number of houses in the county and multiplying by five or six or whatever was presumed to be the average number of persons in a house.

The first successful enumeration of persons - as opposed to houses - occurred in Dublin during the 1798 Rebellion.

For security reasons, the authorities required every householder to fix a notice on the outside of his door, giving details of every person in his house.

An enterprising clergyman, the Reverend James Whitelaw, collected these notices and as a result, was able to state accurately that Dublin consisted of 16,401 houses and 172,091 inhabitants.

This exercise was repeated during Robert Emmets’s rebellion five years later.

However, these census figures applied to Dublin only. The first successful census of the population of the whole island of Ireland was conducted from May 12 1821.

Immediately after this date, specially appointed enumerators moved from house to house in their assigned districts.

The details of every person were entered in specially ruled notebooks.Details were also taken of the conditions of the houses and schools in each district.

The results make interesting reading today. What are sprawling suburbs today were small villages in 1821.

Stillorgan had 1,558 persons living in 223 houses. There were also three schools, maintained by local voluntary contributions, an annual sermon and an annual grant of £15 from the Association for Discountenancing Vice.

Taney had 483 families living in 430 houses. It also had a free school for 110 boys and 110 girls. Another 40 boys and 30 girls attended a school which was maintained out of the estate of Erasmus Smith (a Cromwellian land speculator).

Roebuck consisted of 56 houses and 317 inhabitants. Stepaside was described by the enumerator as a “hamlet” containing a mere 14 houses. Killiney Village reportedly contained “53 houses and 298 souls.” Booterstown contained a mere 158 houses.

When the enumerator arrived in Dunleary, he dutifully noted, “Dunleary, alias Kingstown,” to reflect the fact that the name had just been changed.

Dalkey Commons and Hills were densely populated and the enumerator explained this by referring to, “the public works now carrying on in the Royal Harbour, Kingstown, Dunleary.” This was an obvious reference to the work on the harbour which had just begun and which had attracted large numbers of workers.

The total population of Rathdown in 1821 was 18,046 - a fraction of today’s population.

The practice of requiring the enumerators to visit houses in order to take particulars in their notebooks was repeated in 1831.

But in 1841, the system changed. A forum was delivered to each house which was to be filled in by the household (and not by the enumerator).

This is the practice which will be followed on the night of April 28, 2002.

However, back in 1841, the completed census forms were collected by the police. The practice of using the police to conduct the census continued for over a century.

It was 1951 before civilians were engaged as enumerators. In that year, postmen were engaged as enumerators in the Dublin area, while Gardai continued to conduct the census in rural areas.

From then on, the task of conducting the census was increasingly “civilianised” until by the 1970s, the Gardai were completed relieved of this duty.

The current practice is for the Central Statistics Office to recruit civilians on a temporary basis to work as enumerators.

They plan to deliver a census form to each house in the country before Sunday April 28.

The head of each household is required to fill it out, after which it will be collected by the enumerator without any undue delay.

Incidentally, the first census of the new Millennium is already one year overdue. It should have been taken in 2001, but it was postponed because of the Foot and Mouth Disease.

Paul Craven

General Index. .