Lancashire – sometimes known as the County of Lancaster –was founded in the 12th century. During the Industrial Revolution it emerged from being a sparsely populated agricultural area as a major commercial and industrial region. The county encompassed several hundred mill towns and collieries.

By the 1830s, approximately 85% of all cotton manufactured worldwide was processed in Lancashire. Preston, Accrington, Blackburn, Bolton, Rochdale, Oldham, Chorley, Darwen, Nelson, Colne, Burnley and Wigan were major cotton mill towns during this time. Blackpool was a major centre for tourism for the inhabitants of Lancashire’s mill towns, particularly during ‘wakes week’ in the summer.

In the 19th century, mining was another important part of the county’s industry, though on the coast there was also fishing. Historically, the docks in Preston were an industrial port. Lancashire was historically the location of the port of Liverpool while Barrow-in-Furness is famous for shipbuilding.

Data provided exclusively to this magazine by www.thegenealogist.co.uk, extracted from the site’s census collections, confirms the importance of the textile trade. In 1841, the top 20 professions included weaver, spinner, tailer and dressmaker – although mining and agriculture also feature.

By 1911, when the population had soared to 4.8 million from 1.7 million 70 years earlier, agriculture has faded but textiles and mining remain key professions, despite their decline by this time in other parts of the country. Dock labourer was another trade in the top 20, highlighting the importance of Liverpool in particular in connecting the nation to the world.

The county was subject to major boundary reform in 1974, which removed Liverpool and Manchester with most of their surrounding conurbations to form part of the metropolitan counties of Merseyside and Greater Manchester respectively. At this time, the detached northern part of Lancashire in the Lake District, including the Furness Peninsula and Cartmel, was made part of Cumbria. Warrington and surrounding districts including the villages of Winwick and Croft and Risley and Culcheth were annexed to Cheshire. A part of the West Riding of Yorkshire near Clitheroe, was transferred to Lancashire.

TheGenealogist’s data team has also analysed census records for common surnames in the county. Interestingly, in both 1841 and 1911, the majority of surnames in the top 20 match those for England as a whole very closely. The only names that differ, suggesting a stronger regional connection, are Jackson, Harrison, Ashworth, Holt, Turner, Thompson and Howarth in 1841; and Jackson, Harrison, Thompson and Shaw in 1911.

Lancashire Record Office is based in Preston. Liverpool and Manchester have their own record offices. For details of these and other resources for Lancashire past and present, see here. For details of museums in the county see here ..