The population of Langham continued to increase throughout the whole of the 19th c differing from the more generally held view that village populations in the UK decreased during the second half of this period. Population in UK towns and cities increased rapidly during the latter part of 18th c and during the 19th c. This population growth did not occur without causing considerable anxiety, with many being concerned that such a rapid rise would soon lead to food shortages and starvation. These concerns in the end proved to be groundless but led the government to implement its first modern census in 1801 and each subsequent ten years to the present day, with the exception of 1941 during WWII. The early censuses did return some information but it was not until 1841 that we see individual data per household, this change was due to the way the data was collected. Each household was given a document which they were legally required to complete on census night. Successive census required more detail to be given and this information was usually collected by local people. The national figures for 1851 show that approximately 40% of the workforce was now involved in some form of manufacturing, whilst 25% were in services and 22% in agriculture. The figures for Langham at the same census were 18.4% Skilled Trade or Manufacturing process, 12% in Services and 52% in agriculture. In fact it is likely that much of the skilled trade/manufacturing and the services were linked very closely to agriculture as would be those employed in retail. It would be fair to say that the majority of the Langham population would still be tied very closely to agriculture as the main form of employment. What the data shows is that for most of the 19th c the village maintained a life style very much based on agriculture and where life and occupations changed very little. Langham Village History Group Langham Village Web Site