The Population

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There were 142 dwellings in Westbury in 1841, none of them named or numbered. The population of the village, according to the census, was 637people: 318 males, and 319 females. 161 of these were children under ten, making the adult population 466. 

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Note: older children's ages were rounded up to the nearest five. For the purposes of this study, children of 10 and over are counted as adults, since many of them were employed as servants or farm workers.

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Occupations

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 Of the inhabitants eight men and 15 women were of independent means, and one man was a half-pay naval officer.

 

The predominant occupation was agriculture. Forty two men described themselves as farmers, and 46 as agricultural labourers. 

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Tradesmen included five carpenters, one shoemaker, one shopkeeper, two publicans, two blacksmiths, two masons, two coopers, four tailors, one plasterer, one glazier, five butchers, one thatcher, one gardener, one dressmaker (the only woman with a named occupation), five labourers, and four apprentices. The village was clearly self sufficient, and there were only five incomers: the schoolmaster; the vicar and his wife and one of their servants; and a single agricultural labourer, whose wife and seven children were born in the village.

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 There were 34 female servants (twenty under the age of 20), and 28 male servants.

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Further up the social ladder were the wealthier farmers and those of independent means, as well as a schoolmaster, Thomas Corbett; and a clerk (in holy orders), Edward Ruddock. The individual who is described as  a veterinary surgeon, George Andrews, was probably an unqualified farrier, who looked after and shod the feet of horses.

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No school building is identified in the census. There was no formal system of education in the 1840s. The schoolmaster, Thomas Corbett, a nonconformist, instructed children and adults, either in his own home, or in another house in the village. There may have been a Sunday School in the church.

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