SOURCES OF HISTORICAL POPULATION STATISTICS FOR THE ONE-NAMER

Disclaimer: I am not a statistician, and the following is merely information that I have derived from ferretting around in my local library. As such, this guide will probably contain omissions. It may be that the ONS Library at Pimlico provides a better guide.

General Guides

• Benjamin, Bernard..... Population statistics : a review of UK sources
  (Gower, 1989) (Isbn 056605731x)
  
• Stephens, William Brewer .....Sources for English local history...
  3rd rev ed (Phillimore, 1994) (Isbn 0850339111) [esp Chapter 2 : Population and social structure]
  
• Halsey, A.H. ...British Social Trends since 1900
  2nd edition (Macmillan, 1988) (a 3rd edition is due 2000)
  Chapter 2 : Population

Primary Data

1) Great Britain

• Mitchell,B. R. .....British historical statistics
  (Cambridge University Press,1988)) (Isbn: 0521330084)
  This is a good place to start. The figures are rounded, so they may not be as detailed as you would require. Many useful tables of figures,including Pre-Censal estimates of population, British Isles 1541-1801/ Estimates of mid-year home population British Isles 1801-1980 / Population of Principal Towns British Isles 1801-1901 /Population of Old Counties British Isles 1801-1981
  
• 1991 Census. - Historical tables - Great Britain. -
  London : HMSO, 1993. - (CEN 91. HT). - (Isbn :0116915099)
  Produced as part of the 1991 Census Reports, it contains :-

  Table 1 -Persons present, 1801-1991 -Great Britain/England and Wales/England/Wales/Scotland
  Table 2- Area, Persons present 1891-1991
  Table 3- Proportional distribution of population 1891-1991
  Table 4- Intercensal change, 1891-1991
  Table 5- Age and marital status, 1891-1991
  Table 6 -Proportional distribution of marital status, 1891-1991) (thousands)

  Note that in tables 2-4, all figures relate as closely as possible to the areas as constituted at 21 April 1991
  Note, in tables 5-6, the divorced were not separately identified in censuses before 1921

2) United Kingdom

The following are only snapshots ; they contain some tables of vital statistics which may be of use.

• Statistical abstract for the United Kingdom in each of the last fifteen years from 1871 to 1885
  (Great Britain): (s.n.), (1986?) (Facsim of edition published London : H.M.S.O., 1886)
• Statistical abstract of the United Kingdom for each of the fifteen years 1913 and 1918 to 1931
  London: H.M.S.O., 1933 (Cmd.4233)
  These 2 are only examples: there are other 15 year periods in this series, from Number 1-Number 83, 1840/54-1924/38.
  This series was continued as: Annual abstract of statistics, 1938-

3) England and Wales

3a) General

• Annual report of the Registrar-General for England and Wales 1838-1920
  Continued as: The Registrar-General's Statistical Review of England and Wales for the year ...
  Note: The Official List published by authority of the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages
• The Registrar General's statistical review of England and Wales , 1921-1973
  Formerly: Annual Report of the Registrar-General
  "Ceased in 1973, when the General Register was re-organised as the OPCS (Now Office for National Statistics). Its tables and analysis continued and were developed through a regular series of annual OPCS/ONS publications on fertility, marriage, mortality and migration and other topics. The most up-to-date information is presented through ONS monitors in the same series. Commentary, further analysis and quarterly demographic summary comes in the ONS house journal Population Trends as well as other more detailed occasional publications" (Halsey)
  
  .

3b ) Births

• Birth statistics :historical series of statistics from registrations of births in England and Wales, 1837-1983 (ONS)
  London:H.M.S.O.,1987 (0116911875 [Out of print] (Series Series FM1,no.13))
• Macfarlane, Alison Birth counts: statistics of pregnancy and childbirth
  Vol.2 -Tables (London: HMSO, 1984) (0116910844 £9.95)

3c) Marriages

• Marriage and divorce statistics: historical series of statistics on marriages and divorces in England and Wales 1837-1983
  (London: HMSO, 1990 ) (Series FM2 no.16)(0116913223 [Out of print])

3d) Deaths

• Mortality statistics: serial tables, review of the Registrar General on deaths in England and Wales, 1841-1990
  (London: HMSO, 1992) (Series DH1 no.25) (0116914475 [Out of print])
• Twentieth century mortality [Cd-Rom] : 95 years of mortality data in England. -
  (London : Office for National Statistics, 1997 CD-ROM.) (Isbn: 1857742397)

4) Wales

• Williams, Lawrence John Digest of Welsh historical statistics (Cardiff: Welsh Office, 1985)
• Digest of Welsh statistics (Cardiff : HMSO)
• Welsh Social Trends (Cardiff: HMSO)

5) Scotland

• Scottish Abstract of Statistics No 1- 1971-
  Formerly: Digest of Scottish Statistics No 1- 37, 1953-1971
• Annual Report of the Registrar General for Scotland
• Scottish Population Statistics
  (Scottish Academic Press, 1976 -New edition of 1902 edition) (Isbn: 070730105x [out of print] (not yet seen)
• Webster, Alexander An account of the number of people in Scotland in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty five
  (Scottish population statistics, including Webster's 'Analysis of population 1755', edited by James Gray Kyd )(Scottish Academic Press, 1975)

6) Ireland

• Connell, K. H. The population of Ireland, 1750-1845
  Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 1975 (Reprint of the 1950 ed. published by Clarendon Press, Oxford) (Isbn: 0837176204)
• Vaughan, W.E. Irish historical statistics: Population, 1821-1978
  (Royal Irish Academy, 1978) [out of print: and as yet unseen by me)
• Annual Report of the Registrar-General [of Northern Ireland] (Belfast: HMSO )
• Annual Report of the Registrar General Ireland

Irish Census County Population Statistics for 1841 and 1851 can be found via the:-
Centre for Data Digitisation and Analysis

7 ) Parish Census Population Statistics can sometimes be found in the relevant volume of the Victoria County History. The VCH has been going for 100 years, but is still a long way from being complete. Many counties have not been even started, or are dormant due to lack of funding. The following is a guide as to which volume you will find the Tables of Population 1801-1891

• Bedfordshire Vol 2 pp111-116
• Berkshire Vol 2 pp234-243
• Buckinghamshire Vol 2 pp94-101
• Chesire Vol 2 pp201-249
• Dorset Vol 2 pp264-273
• Durham Vol 2 pp263-274
• Essex Vol 2 pp344-354
• Gloucestershire Vol 2 pp175-187
• Hampshire/IOW Vol 5 pp435-450
• Hertfordshire Vol 4 pp232-238
• Huntingdonshire Vol 2 pp101-105
• Kent Vol 3 pp356-370
• Lancashire Vol 2 pp330-350
• Leicestershire Vol 3 pp156-217
• Middlesex Vol 2 pp110-120
• Nottinghamshire Vol 2 pp307-317
• Oxfordshire Vol 2 pp213-224
• Rutland Vol 1 pp229-232
• Shropshire Vol 2 pp219-229
• Somerset Vol 2 pp338-352
• Staffordshire Vol 1 pp318-329
• Suffolk Vol 1 pp681-695
• Surrey Vol 4 pp447-453
• Warwickshire Vol 2 pp182-192
• Wiltshire Vol 4 pp315-361
• Worcestershire Vol 4 pp464-472

8) Census Reports

This table is a shortened extract from a table that appears in The Census and Social Structure :an interpretative guide to nineteenth century censuses , editor Richard Lawson (Frank Cass: 1878) pp294-295
Permission to reproduce is being sought

For population statistics of British counties, you need to consult the British Census Abstracts. Many of these have been reprinted in the Irish University Press Series of British Parliamentary Papers : Population; Vols 1-25. This series is held by some university libraries. The drawback is that the series does not cover the whole of the Census Abstracts for Great Britain.

IUP Volumes published:-

• 1841 -Great Britain
• 1851 -Great Britain and Ireland (includes registration district maps)
• 1861 -England and Wales
• 1871 -England and Wales, Scotland (includes registration district maps)
• 1881 -England and Wales
• 1891 -England and Wales, Scotland (includes registration district maps)

It is far better to consult the original abstracts, as the comparative tables in the IUP set above, can be misleading.

For example, the 1891 volumes compares the 1891 Registration District populations, with those of 1881. If you look in the 1881 Census, the 1881 figures are different, since the 1881 figures in the 1891 census were adjusted to the 1891 boundaries.

The original Census Abstracts are not easily available. (There should be a set in the ONS Library, Pimlico). However, there is an ongoing project by Staffordshire University to make many of the tables available on the Web.

This is the Victorian Census Project

Available from this site (as at 13/04/99) are the 1831 Census County (England and Wales) population figures, and 1861 Census registration district figures. It is as yet unclear whether the Project will tabulate figures below registration district level.

The Victorian Census Project web-site has not been updated since 1997. I think however, this may be because the datasets are being contributed to the

GB Historical GIS Project

who intend to have a CD available of boundary changes, and presumably populations, 1837-to present? by the millennium.

9) Mean Household Size

• 1691-1800 - Tables can be found in Peter Laslett's Household and family in past time (Cambridge University Press, 1972) -Chapter 5- Mean household size in England from printed sources
  "This study is concerned with the household in England from the time that Gregory King provided the first authoritative summary of English census material in 1695/6 until the publication of the 1st state census in 1801"
• 1800-1900 Information can be found in the various Census Abstracts
• 1900-1985 There is a brief table in Halsey British Social Trends since 1900

10) Rest of Europe

Macmillan Reference have just announced that they will be publishing a combined book/Cdrom called ‘The European Population 1850-1950, by Franz Rothenbacher and Peter Flora, next year. The CD will contain detailed statistical tables for each European country.

The publishers say that "all data is from the Mannheim Centre for Social Research, a body deicated to comparative research on Europe and one of the leading social research institutes in the world", and that it will be "the most comprehensive statistical set available on Western European social issues", and will be "immensely detailed."

Price around £225 -so hope your local library stocks.

written: April 1999
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Modern British Surnames
Last revised: July 08, 2001.