Manuscripts and Special Collections

Activity 3: How Joseph Rose lived

Enquiry Question

  • How did Joseph Rose live and how did his life change before and after the 1850s?

Aims

  • To use the documents to work out how Joseph Rose lived in Laxton and to connect his life with the village

Resources

  • Document 1 - Abstract of 1831 census return for the parish of Laxton, giving total number for households, male, females, occupations etc. (Ma B 174/334), with transcript
  • Document 2 - Pages from 1862 survey of Earl Manvers’ estate in Laxton, giving details of Joseph Rose's house and farm and Sarah Rose's cottage (Ma S 16), with transcript
  • Document 3 – Summary pages from the 1862 survey, giving details of all householders in Laxton (Ma S 16), with transcript
  • Document 4 - Transcripts of detailed census information relating to the families of Joseph and Sarah Rose, 1841-1871
  • 'The 1862 World of the Rose Family' worksheet

Downloads

Outline Starter

  • Discuss what a census is. Emphasise how valuable census returns can be

Main

  • Translation of the abstract of the 1831 census return for the parish of Laxton (Document 1). Magnifying glasses may be of use! This task can be short or long depending on time but the important aspect is to put into context Joseph Rose and his family
  • Use the pages from the 1862 survey relating to Joseph and Sarah Rose (Document 2), the summary pages (Document 3), and the census returns (Document 4) to reconstruct Laxton in 1862 using words and pictures. Students to fill in 'The 1862 World of the Rose Family' worksheet

Plenary

  • Students to describe their house today, and see if it could be drawn from word descriptions only

Alternative Options

  • Use full census returns for Laxton, accessed online, to compare and contrast with 1831.

 

Next: Activity 4: Controlling Laxton

 

Manuscripts and Special Collections

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