Census Returns
The details of Dring entries on the various census returns has been submitted by various researchers and comes from a variety of sources. As with any information we suggest the original sources are checked and they cannot be considered complete.
UK Census Returns
1841 National Alphabetical Dring Index - taken 6th June shows only name, age (over 15's are rounded down to the nearest 5 years), occupation and whether born in County. (population 15,914,000 -- 856 Drings)
1841 Hunts & Cambs Dring Returns for Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire
1851 taken 30th March From 1851 onward the relationship of the individuals to the head of the household were recorded. The ages were as accurate as they could be, the birthplace and whether they were married was noted.(population 17,928,000 -- 840 Drings)
1851 Norfolk, Warwicks & Devon Some extracted Dring households from these counties
1851 Hunts Some extracted Dring households from Huntingdonshire
1861 National Alphabetical Dring Index - taken 6th April (population 20,066,000 -- 989)
1861 Hunts Some extracted Dring households from Huntingdonshire
1871 Census taken 2nd April (population 22,723,000)
1871 Hunts Some extracted Dring households from Huntingdonshire
1881 National Alphabetical Dring Index taken 3rd April (population 25,974,000) The Dring information has been taken from the excellent CD Rom version prepared by the LDS Church. The information was transcribed by members of the Federation of Family History Societies and the details put on computer and organized by the LDS Church. Originally available on microfiche, it was transferred to Electronic media in 1999. Our thanks to everybody involved.
I have noticed on the 1881 census that DRING is being wrongly put down as DRURY. So far I have found 5 in Burton Coggles and Nottingham. If anyone cannot find the DRING they are looking for, it may be worthwhile looking at the DRURY's. Steve Morse
1881 Middlesex, London & Surrey covers most of what is now Greater London but also check Kent, Essex & Herts for other districts
1881 South Coast consists of the Counties of Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, Dorset, Devon & Cornwall
1881 South Central England consists of Berks, Bucks, Gloucs, Bedfordshire, Herts, Oxford, Somerset & Wilts
1881 Midlands consists of Derbyshire, Northants, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcester
1881 East Anglia consists of Cambridgeshire, Essex, Huntingdonshire, Norfolk & Suffolk
1881 Lincolnshire is the 1881 stronghold of the Dring dynasty with over 300 residents.
1881 Nottinghamshire is the 1901 stronghold with 238 residents and a long history of the Dring family.
1881 Yorkshire covers a large area of northern England's but with 139 Drings is listed separately
1881 North of England covers the counties of Lancashire, Durham and Northumberland
1891 (population 28,999,725)
1901 National Alphabetical Dring Index (Population 32,527,813 -- 1513 Drings)
1901 Hunts & Cambs Dring Entries for Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire
1911 For details go to findmypast.co.uk (1802 Drings)
Canadian Census Returns
1881 National Alphabetical Dring Index
1891 National Alphabetical Dring Index
US Census Returns
1880 National Alphabetical Dring Index
The table below shows the number of people with the Dring surname sorted by County in the UK census of England and Wales. The pictures below are an attempt to show how the "Drings" were distributed during these years.
| County | 1841 | 1851 | 1861 | 1871 | 1881 | 1891 | 1901 | 1911 |
| Bedfordshire | 5 | 12 | 10 | 18 | 11 | 18 | ||
| Berkshire | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||||
| Buckinghamshire | 1 | 6 | 5 | 6 | ||||
| Carmarthen, Wales | 4 | |||||||
| Cambridgeshire | 43 | 61 | 69 | 72 | 63 | 96 | ||
| Cheshire | 1 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 7 | |||
| Cumberland | 1 | |||||||
| Derbyshire | 6 | 12 | 14 | 29 | 42 | 53 | ||
| Devon | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | |||
| Dorset | 1 | 9 | 3 | 1 | ||||
| Durham | 7 | 6 | 19 | 44 | 87 | 97 | ||
| Essex | 15 | 15 | 21 | 32 | 54 | 44 | ||
| Flintshire, Wales | 1 | |||||||
| Glamorgan, Wales | 1 | 12 | 23 | |||||
| Gloucestershire | 4 | 1 | 6 | 26 | 57 | 61 | ||
| Hampshire | 13 | 10 | 5 | 12 | 9 | 8 | ||
| Hertfordshire | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 10 | 5 | ||
| Huntingdonshire | 126 | 111 | 133 | 112 | 83 | 85 | ||
| Kent | 3 | 22 | 42 | 8 | ||||
| Lancashire | 9 | 14 | 16 | 29 | 78 | 103 | ||
| Leicestershire | 14 | 19 | 10 | 21 | 28 | |||
| Lincolnshire | 181 | 162 | 204 | 300 | 197 | 213 | ||
| London/Middlesex | 78 | 82 | 80 | 86 | 140 | 221 | ||
| Monmouthshire, Wales | 1 | |||||||
| Norfolk | 9 | 8 | 4 | 16 | 13 | 22 | ||
| Northampton | 2 | 6 | 5 | 17 | 14 | 9 | ||
| Northumberland | 1 | 3 | 3 | |||||
| Nottinghamshire | 134 | 107 | 148 | 191 | 238 | 318 | ||
| Oxfordshire | 50 | 39 | 55 | 51 | 33 | 40 | ||
| Rutland | 1 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 1 | ||
| Shropshire | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Somerset | 10 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 4 | |||
| Staffordshire | 10 | 22 | 38 | |||||
| Suffolk | 9 | 4 | 8 | 13 | 13 | 10 | ||
| Surrey | 22 | 29 | 28 | 74 | 71 | 44 | ||
| Sussex | 4 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 3 | ||
| Warwickshire | 2 | 4 | 7 | 18 | 13 | 25 | ||
| Westmorland | 1 | |||||||
| Wiltshire | 11 | 11 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 9 | ||
| Worcestershire | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 13 | |||
| Yorkshire | 88 | 102 | 108 | 139 | 149 | 174 | ||
| Overseas, military, etc. | 7 | |||||||
| Total | 856 | 840 | 989 | 1359 | 1513 | 1802 |
The maps attempt to show the counties most heavily populated by people with the Dring surname. The deeper the colour, the more Drings per County. (It can only be regarded as a crude attempt as some counties are very large and some very small).
