Why Did My Ancestor Lie? (Quick tip: 2)

Women of all classes fabricated their age on the nineteenth century censuses. The government report into the census of 1881 stated that many women ‘desirous of being thought younger than they really are, return themselves as under 25 or under 30 when their true age is considerably beyond these limits.’ Interestingly, there was also a particular tendency for women to state that their age was between 20 and 25 (when they were actually either younger or older than that age).

Unidentified woman in Victorian dress, from the Miller Family Collection. Via Wikimedia Commons.

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