The
Populations
Past – Atlas of Victorian and Edwardian Population website and data
came to my attention in a blog post by John Reid (Canada’s
Anglo-Celtic Connections) on 29 November 2018. Thanks John!
What
struck me in particular was that the host of the site and source of some of the
data used is CAMPOP, the University of Cambridge project, Cambridge Group for the
History of Population and Social Structure. I have just completed an
article about the History of Occupations, using information from several
Cambridge Group studies. It will be published in Family Tree (UK) magazine next year. So, I was delighted and
intrigued to find even more depth to their website.
As
John indicated, and as described in the Population Past overview, the “website allows users to create and view maps
of different demographic measures and related socio-economic indicators every
10 years between 1851 and 1911. These include fertility, childhood mortality,
marriage, migration status, household compositions, age-structure, occupational
status and population density.” These are powerful data that will greatly
assist in unravelling family histories during the second half of the 19th
century. The analyses also show other aspects of using such census data that
many of us may not have thought about.
Of
importance in this time period, “The
second half of the nineteenth century . . . was a time of transformation from a
relatively 'high pressure' demographic regime characterised by medium to high
birth and death rates to a 'low pressure' regime of low birth and death rates,
a transformation known as the 'demographic transition'.” We are fortunate,
in terms of British family history, to have such detailed data from censuses
and civil registration files for births, deaths and marriages. As genealogists,
we are also lucky to have access to studies such as those done and published by
the Cambridge Group researchers.
The
work is still in progress but there are some interesting results and trends
already available, especially the data from employment. One can review
information about workers by socio-economic status, skilled versus unskilled
occupations of men and employment of women and children.
I
had a look at all the data from Plympton St. Mary Registration District in
Devon. This is the area from which my Shepheard ancestors came, so it presented
an opportunity to look at the censuses from a different perspective.
The
region is defined as agricultural, based on its occupational structure and
population density. Between 1851 and 1911, it did not change much in character,
having its lowest density of 0.21 persons per acre in 1851 and its highest in
1911 at 0.30 persons per acre. There was never much in the way of manufacturing
industry. Most of the occupations are related to farming, including tradesmen
and labourers. Farm labourers and other unskilled workers, did drop from about
48% of all working-age men in 1851 to 40% in 1911. Skilled and semi-skilled
workers rose from 29% of the male workforce to 35% in the same time period.
Professionals and non-manual skilled workmen stayed about the same, between 20%
and 23%. Those numbers are consistent with what I have uncovered through
examinations of parish registers.
In
terms of working women, the region was probably not unlike many others in
England and Wales. Almost half of working-age women were employed as domestic
servants throughout the record period; 60% of all single women worked for
wages. In 1851, 38% of widows were employed, dropping to 28% by 1911 – not a
large difference.
Child
employment was high, not unexpectedly. More than 40% of boys and 21% of girls
aged 14 to 18 were recorded as full-time workers on every census. In 1851, 17%
of boys and 6% of girls between 10 and 13 were employed. That dropped to 3% and
1%, respectively by 1911.
Mortality
was very high for infants and young children: well over 10% failed to reach
their first birthday and another 7% did not attain the age of five years. Those
numbers were fairly consistent from 1851 to 1911. Nationally, the death rates
were around 15% for infants. Young children fared better, dropping from 15% to
about 7% between 1851 and 1911.
There
is a lot of other information to be discovered about family structure,
fertility and households, all broken down by registration district across
England and Wales and accessible using an indexed map. It is not impossible to
spend hours reviewing data from parishes in which ancestors lived.
Anyone
with British ancestors is well-advised to have a look at the website.
