The census returns for Calverley Parish are split into Enumeration Districts (EDs). The main townships of the old parish, Idle, Calverley with Farsley and Pudsey cum Tyersall are included in full. For the sake of integrity we also have the returns from the bordering areas of Stanningley, Rodley, Bagley and Swinnow that are in Bramley district. There is also some census data from other surrounding districts, such as Armley, Wortley, Tong and Gildersome. We have included them to give a better overall picture of the area and to include the many "strays" from the Calverley parish districts. The data is normally presented by its original ED.

The township of Stanningley is problematical as the village falls under three different districts. In 1851, for example, the part in Calverley with Farsley can be found here under Farsley as ED6; the part in Pudsey can be found under Richardshaw, ED20 to 22, and the part under Bramley appears here as Stanningley, ED1a. See the guide and map here "Why can't I find my family in Stanningley?".

 

The dates of all the censuses were as follows:

• 1841 – 6 June
• 1851 – 30 March
• 1861 – 7 April
• 1871 – 2 April
• 1881 – 3 April
• 1891 – 5 April
• 1901 – 31 March
• 1911 – 2 April
  

 

Important, please read:

The original census returns are of varying quality and accuracy. Many of the enumerators were men in a hurry who often had difficulty spelling unfamiliar surnames and placenames and very often didn't follow the instructions correctly, so the data produced can be sometimes flawed. At CalverleyInfo, we do not treat these documents as sacred scriptures to be faithfully copied, we consider them to be a good data source that can often be improved upon.

All the above indexes are continually updated as more information is added to the basic entries. Many of the names have been researched and, where there is no ambiguity, additional data added. For example, the entry for B. Harold WHEATLEY in the Farsley 1891 census, appears here in full as Benjamin Harold WHEATLEY .

Where we change a spelling, the original is usually entered as a note. One district from the Pudsey 1851 census and another from the Gildersome 1851 census, had everyone except the head of each family entered with just an initial for their name. These have been filled in where possible.

Our method may not suit the purists, but our purpose is to help people find their relations, not reproduce errors and flaws.
In a few cases, to save space and size, some abbreviations have been introduced, most of which are obvious, such as 'ass.' for assistant and 'app.' for apprentice.. Under the 'Occupations' section, the abbreviations "HLW Weaver" and "PLW Weaver" stand for "Hand Loom Woolen Weaver" and "Power Loom Worsted Weaver" respectively. Searchers should be aware that the term 'son in law' and 'daughter in law' are often used by the enumerators to mean 'stepson' and 'stepdaughter'.