Having achieved an estimate of the number of Walnes in the 1911 census, where exactly were they in England and Wales?
The answer, for 63% of them, was Lancashire. By far the biggest chunk were in Alston/Dilworth/Longridge, the home of 41/263 individuals. There were also concentrations in Blackburn (25), Colne (16), Oldham (16), Burnley (15), Bardsley (11), Clayton le Moors (10) and Leyland (10).
The next county by population was Suffolk with 13.3% of the total, then Leicestershire (5.3%), Sussex (4.6%), Norfolk (3.0%), London (3.0%), Dorset (2.7%) and Cambridgeshire (1.9%). The remainder of represented counties had only one or two individuals: Cheshire, the Isle of Man, Oxfordshire, Surrey, Warwickshire and ‘Royal Navy’ (OK, that one’s not exactly a county…).
Within this latter set of counties the largest concentrations were in Leicester (14) and Ipswich (11).
Using a free download from Ordnance Survey I have created a concentration map below to show this geographically (the darker the colour the higher the percentage of the 1911 index):
Interestingly, initial research suggests that all the individuals outside of Lancashire, except for one individual in Cheshire and one in Warwickshire, could trace roots to Norfolk and Suffolk.
Note: this map replaces at earlier example in my personal blog with slightly different figures – as the research continues I’m sure there will be further updates.
