To clarify the recording of ages on the 1841 census, the instructions to the Enumerator were as follows: “Age and Sex.—Write the age of each person opposite to the name in one of the two columns headed “Males” and “Females,” according to the sex. Write the age of every person under 15 years of age as it is stated to you. For persons aged 15 years and upwards, write the lowest of the term of 5 years within which the age is. Thus—for Persons aged 15 years and under 20 write 15 20 years and under 25 write 20 25 years and under 30 write 25 30 years and under 35 write 30 35 years and under 40 write 35 40 years and under 45 write 40 45 years and under 50 write 45 50 years and under 55 write 50 55 years and under 60 write 55 60 years and under 65 write 60 65 years and under 70 write 65 70 years and under 75 write 70 and so on up to the greatest ages. If no more can be ascertained respecting the age of any person than that the person is a child or is grown up, write “under 20,” or “above 20,” as the case may be." Hope this helps, Mike Gould Leicestershire -----Original Message----- From: devon-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:devon-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Joy Langdon Sent: 26 January 2014 11:19 To: shayes@dunelm.org.uk; devon@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [DEV] STOOKE family of Dawlish Steve,   The census enumerator's instructions for the 1841 census were to round the ages up to the nearest 5 years the quotes in the subject and the body of the message