Fans of Flora Thompson will know that in her book 'Lark Rise
to Candleford', Lark Rise is the fictional name for her home village of Juniper
Hill in north Oxfordshire. Lark Rise to Candleford was written by Flora about
50 years after she lived there so it is interesting to wonder how much of the
book is accurate memory and how much fiction, in particular does Flora deliberately
change the identities of the neighbours she wrote about. In the book Heatherley
(published after her death) an account of her years in the Hampshire village
of Grayshott the names of the people she met seem to have been heavily changed
making it hard to 
identify them from contemporary sources. Is it
the case with Lark Rise?. By looking at the 1881 and 1891 censuses I have tried
to identify a number of the people mentioned and have discovered that some Flora
fictionalised only very slightly, others it is impossible (using only these
two sources) to be sure who they were. In her biography of Flora, Gillian Lindsay
has indentfied two of the families, an elderly couple called Dick and Sally
were Richard and Sally Moss and Quennie and Twister Macey were Eliza and Thomas
Massey, but what of the others?
One name has not been changed at all 'Old Master Tuffery' who sang 'Outlandish Knight' at the Wagon and Horses is almost certainly David Tuffery aged 71 in 1881. He wasn't listed in the 1891 census when he would have been 81 and is described by Flora as 83,but is unlikely to be anyone else, after so many years Flora probably didn't see any need to change his name.
Another name unchanged but with the circumstances changed is
a man described as a batchelor called Major Sharman who lives near Flora but
becomes ill and dies in the workhouse. James Sharman did live alone near Flora
but he was a widower and only 57 in 1881 so perhaps Flora used his name and
based his circumstances on some one else. 
One name which is slightly changed but is easily identifiable is Caroline Arless, who in real life must have been Caroline Aris. She is described in detail by Flora as a 'tall fine upstanding woman with flashing dark eyes'. She was a grandmother but continued producing children every couple of years, from the census this appears to be true. In 1881 she is 31 and married with 5 children at home, in 1891 she has had four more children, the youngest only two. A contrast to her in character but just as easily identifiable are the methodist Ashton family. Hannah Ashley is the name in the book but in real life must have been Hannah Ashton who lived with her husband George and their son Frederick. Flora describes the peaceful house of George and Hannah Ashley and that they had one child called Freddie, all of which is confirmed by the census.
Some people only mentioned
briefly by Flora can also be confidently indentified. Flora describes the horror
of the hamlet when an unmarried mother wth four children moves in, one of these
children is called Alfred who playes a melodeon. In 1881 an unmarried mother
with four children was living in Juniper Hill, Caroine Paxton and her children
Alfred, Annie, Ada and Walter. Of the younger people fewer are indentifiable,
she mentions a girl called Clem coming home from service and giving her best
dress to her younger sister Sally. This must have been Clementina Gaskins who
was 12 in 1881 and had younger sisters called Sophia and Susannah. She also
mentions 'little Florrie', daughter of the publican, this must have been Florance
Harris whose father was the publican.
It is unclear how much of Flora's memory is fact or fiction, but she clearly remembered names and the descriptions she gives of people are probably fairly accurate and bring to life the names on a census page. Some of the other people in the book such as the various ladies of the hamlet, Mrs Spicer and Mrs Mullins are not so easily identifiable, perhaps their names have been changed completely or their characters were amalgams by Flora of a number of people she knew.
By using only the two census returns however it is clear how accurate a lot of Flora's memory was when writing of events in her childhood 50 years after they happened. Flora herself is on the 1891 census for Juniper Hill aged 14 with her five younger brothers and sisters (she was the only girl of her age in the village all her contemporaries had already left), she was however soon to leave Juniper Hill forever and start on her career in the Post Office.