Formerly the administrative centre of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Wakefield has seen many changes from its origins as an Anglo-Saxon settlement, none more so than in the period of the Industrial Revolution. In common with many growing industrial centres, the town experienced rapid population growth during the nineteenth century, both from natural increase and in-migration. Many people lived close to their places of work, and an ad-hoc building programme resulted in poor-quality housing filling the former medieval burgage plots, known locally as yards. These yards were many in number, and by the end of the nineteenth century a large proportion were regarded as notorious slums.

For my Open University DA 301 (Studying Family and Community History) project I decided to concentrate on a very small geographical area – three adjoining yards (Laycock, Volunteer and Albion) leading off one of the main streets, Kirkgate – and aimed to analyse the resident population of the yards during the period 1851-1891. The census returns were my main source and the transcripts are reproduced here. Even if you do not have ancestors who lived in these yards, take a look at the residents of the three yards in the mid- to late nineteenth century. Who were they? What jobs did they do? Where were they born? Were they typical of working-class urban households?

I hope these transcripts help to shed some light on an aspect of Wakefield’s history which has long since disappeared.

Click on the links below to view transcripts

  Database right – all databases on this website are covered by the 1997 Database Regulations.