Captain Sir Tom Moore: 1921 census records show future Covid inspiration as a one-year-old
A new release of information about the 1921 census carries the details of a toddler who would go on to become a national inspiration in later life - as Captain Tom.
Thomas Moore, who was just one at the time, would rise to fame as Captain Sir Tom Moore as he became a national hero during the Coronavirus pandemic.
The century-old documents, details of which were released on Thursday, records a young Thomas at the age of one year and one month.
He is listed as living in Keighley in Yorkshire, the son of Wilfred, a 36-year-old building contractor, and 34-year-old Isabel, whose occupation was listed as "household duties".
The family, complete with young Thomas's four-year-old sister Freda, lived in a six-bedroom property at the time the census was completed.
In his book, Captain Sir Tom remembers an extremely happy childhood growing up on the southern slopes of Rombalds Moor, West Yorkshire – renowned as ‘Bronte Country.’
He was born on 30 April 1920, a few months after the Spanish Influenza burned itself out and the very day that the British Government under PM Lloyd George ended military conscription.
His birth was just one among 1.1 million live births in the UK that year, the highest number since records began.
Captain Sir Tom, who lived in Marston Moretaine in Bedfordshire, inspired the nation by walking lengths of his garden to raise more than £39m for the NHS.
He died in Bedford Hospital on February 2021 aged 100 after suffering from pneumonia and Covid-19.
After inspiring so many with his 100 laps, his 100th birthday in the April of 2020 became a chance for many to show how much his efforts had meant to them during lockdown.
There was an RAF flypast by a Spitfire and a Hurricane which flew over Captain Sir Tom's home in Marston Moretaine on his birthday, and he was made an honorary colonel.
A train was named after him and he was inundated with messages and 150,000 birthday cards.
His family discovered a mystery Christmas present from him this year.
While Captain Sir Tom's name would have been unremarkable to census officials, others contained within the returns would certainly have stood out among the millions of records.
One of those was David Lloyd George, prime minister during the latter stages of the First World War, who spent June 19 1921 - when the census was recorded - at Chequers along with his wife, Margaret, son Richard and his family.
The records, released after 100 years locked in the vaults, offer an unprecedented snapshot of life across England and Wales, capturing the personal details of 38 million people on 19 June 1921.