Introduction

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REPORT


TO

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR GEORGE GREY, BART., G.C.B., M.P.,

HER MAJESTY'S PRINCIPAL SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE
HOME DEPARTMENT.



Census Office, London, 23rd July 1863.

Sir,

23 & 24 Vict. C. 51

THE detailed Abstracts of the Returns made under the authority of the Act for taking the Seventh Census of England having been printed and laid before both Houses of Parliament, we have now the honour to present a Report on the general results of this important inquiry.

The Census of the United Kingdom for the year 1861 was taken under the powers conferred by three Acts of Parliament, applicable respectively to England, Scotland, and Ireland; and, in the case of Scotland, the enumeration was for the first time required to be made apart from that of England, under the superintendence of the Registrar General in Edinburgh, and through the agency of the local registrars appointed under the Act for the Registration of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in Scotland. In the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man the Census was taken, in conformity with, instructions from the Home Office, by the respective lieutenant-governors acting in conjunction with the English Central Office.

Local machinery for taking the Census

As the local machinery by means of which the present Census of England has been taken differs in no material respect from that employed in 1851, a brief sketch of the mode of procedure will suffice to convey all needful information upon the subject.

Formation of enumeration districts

The 634 superintendent registrars' districts in England and Wales are generally co-extensive with the Poor Law Unions, and are subdivided into 2,194 sub-districts, each having a local registrar of births and deaths. Under the supervision of the Superintendents, it was the duty of the Registrars to divide the sub-districts into enumeration districts, in accordance with directions furnished by us. While the boundaries of parishes or townships were to be taken as the basis upon which to frame the division, strict attention was to be paid to the limits of boroughs (whether parliamentary or municipal), towns, wards, hamlets, tithings, chapelries, ecclesiastical districts, &c., so that the number of houses and of inhabitants in these various local sub-divisions might afterwards be readily and accurately ascertained. Where a parish or township was sufficient to form of itself a distinct enumeration district, it was to be assigned to one enumerator. In no case, however, was the District to be too extensive or too populous to be enumerated by an active man within the compass of a single day; and, as a general rule, it was to be assumed that where the enumerator would not be required to visit more than 200 houses in towns, or where he would not have to travel more than 15 miles in visiting a smaller number of houses in the country, the district would not be too large. When completed, the scheme for the division of each sub-district was revised by the superintendent registrar, and by him transmitted to the Central Office for the approval of the Registrar General, together with the names of the persons proposed as enumerators.

Qualifications of enumerators

The enumerators were required to be intelligent and active, able to read and write well, not younger than 18 years of age or older than 60; they were to be respectable persons likely to conduct themselves with strict propriety and courtesy in the discharge of their duties, and well acquainted with the district in which they were to act. No difficulty was experienced in procuring the services of a highly respectable body of enumerators, including clergymen and many other professional men who undertook the work from public motives.

Public institutions

Public institutions, such as county gaols, convict prisons, reformatories, workhouses, hospitals, barracks, and lunatic asylums, whose inmates exceeded 200 persons, and in some instances a smaller number, were treated as separate enumeration divisions, and the governor or principal resident officer was appointed the enumerator. The smaller institutions were treated as ordinary houses, and the particulars regarding their inmates were obtained by the district enumerators in the usual way.

The whole of England and Wales was divided into 30,329 enumeration districts, and the islands in the British Seas into 300, to each of which an enumerator was appointed: there were in addition 533 public institutions with a distinct enumerator.

Merchant vessels in harbours, docks, &c

The enumeration of persons on board merchant vessels, fishing smacks and other craft in the ports, docks, creeks, and rivers was satisfactorily accomplished by the officers of Her Majesty's Customs. Schedules, duly filled up by the masters, were obtained in the case of the vessels in port on the Census day, and on the arrival of every home-trade and coasting vessel within the month next following, inquiries were made in order to ascertain whether the Census return had been given in at any port in the United Kingdom, and if not, the master was forthwith requested to fill up a schedule. All the returns collected by the officers of Her Majesty's Customs in England were transmitted direct to the Central Office. A return subsequently furnished by the Registrar General of Merchant Seamen afforded full details with respect to the seamen absent in British foreign-going vessels in all parts of the world.

Royal Navy

The information about seamen and others on board vessels of the Royal Navy, at home and abroad, was supplied to us pursuant to instructions addressed by the Lords of the Admiralty to the officers in command of Her Majesty's ships and vessels.

Boats and barges in inland waters

In order to secure the enumeration of persons on board boats, barges, and other craft in inland waters not within the jurisdiction of the officers of Customs, it was arranged that such vessels should be visited on the morning of 8th April, and the required particulars obtained from the master or person in charge, either by the ordinary enumerator or by a person specially employed for the purpose. About 290 persons were engaged to perform this duty at the principal wharves and stations on canals.

Persons not in dwelling houses

The enumerators were directed to make diligent inquiry for the purpose of ascertaining the number of persons not in any dwelling-house on the night of the 7th April, but sleeping in barns, sheds, caravans, tents, &c., or in the open air, and to enter such particulars as might be obtained respecting them in a form provided for the purpose.

In this manner, more or less strictly in accordance with the instructions, the whole of England and Wales, of the Channel Islands, and of the Isle of Man, was divided in a suitable manner, and provision was made for the complete enumeration of all the inhabitants.

Distribution of householders' schedules

The first duty of the enumerator was to deliver, in the course of the week preceding the 8th of April 1861, to every occupier of a house or tenement, a householder's schedule, to be filled up by or on behalf of such occupier,—under a penalty in case of wilful default,—with the following particulars respecting himself and family; viz., name, sex, age, rank or occupation, condition as regards marriage, relation to head of family, and birthplace; noting also whether any were blind or deaf and dumb. The schedules, which were almost identical with those used in taking the Census in 1851, were of two sizes; the smaller size, adapted for ordinary families, containing spaces for 15 names; and the larger, adapted for large establishments and schools, affording room for 55. An adequate supply of each description, with a liberal allowance for waste, was forwarded from the Census Office to the local registrars, and by them supplied to the enumerators; the total number of separate forms thus distributed being nearly 6,000,000.1 For the use of the enumerator in delivering and collecting the schedules, a "memorandum book" was provided, in which he was required to note the description of dwelling (whether a private house, lodging-house, hotel, &c.), the number of occupiers or separate families, and of schedules left, with other particulars. The large public institutions were not furnished with schedules, but the governor or principal resident officer received from the registrar an "Enumeration Book" in which to enter the particulars required by the Act. In the case of the smaller institutions, which were not considered as separate enumeration districts, a "special schedule," printed in red, was delivered by the enumerator to the resident head.

Persons absent from home

The schedule was to be filled up by the occupier with the requisite information concerning every person who abode in the house or apartment on the night of Sunday April 7th, 1861. No member of the family absent on that night was to be entered except in the case of persons who were engaged at their usual labour during the night and who regularly returned home in the morning; persons travelling by railways or otherwise were in like manner to be enumerated at the hotels or houses at which they stop on the following day.

Collection of schedules on 8th April

On Monday the 8th April 1861 the enumerators had to visit every dwelling-house in England and Wales, in order to collect the schedules which they had left in the course of the week preceding. When the schedule was already filled up, the enumerator had to see that the entries were made in a proper manner, and to satisfy himself that the particulars were likely to be correct. If from any cause the schedule was not filled up it was his duty to fill it up himself from the verbal information of the occupier or other competent member of the family. He was directed in all cases to ascertain carefully that no person who abode in the house or lodgings on the previous night was omitted, and that no person then absent was included, except those travelling or out at work during that night and who returned home on the following morning. He was authorized to correct any schedule which contained manifestly false particulars. When satisfied of the correctness and completeness of the entries, he noted the receipt of the schedule in his memorandum book, in which he entered also the particulars respecting the number of houses, inhabited, uninhabited, or building,—of persons who slept in barns, sheds, outhouses, &c.,—of residents temporarily absent, and strangers temporarily present.

We have the satisfaction to state that by the efficient exertion of the local officers, aided by the general good-will of all classes of the community, the enumeration was accomplished in a successful manner within the appointed time, and that not a single instance occurred in which it was found necessary to adopt proceedings under the penal clauses of the Act of Parliament. Several of the enumerators who had acted in the same capacity ten years before remarked that a more intelligent appreciation of the objects and uses of the inquiry, combined with the utmost willingness to furnish the returns, was evinced by the poorer population; a result which may be fairly ascribed to the co-operation of the educated and influential classes of society, particularly of the clergy of all denominations and of public writers in the press.

Proceedings subsequent to the enumeration

Immediately after the completion of the process of enumeration the local officers were occupied chiefly with the following matters: (1.) the transcription by the enumerator of the particulars contained in the householder's schedules into the "Enumeration Book," accompanied with proper indications of all local boundaries, and a summary of the total number of houses and of persons enumerated; (2.) the collation of the schedules and the enumeration books, as well as the careful revision of the latter by the registrar, who had then to make out a summary for his sub-district, and to transmit it, with the other documents, to the superintendent registrar; (3.) the general revision of the returns by the superintendent registrar, who was required to test their accuracy, and to satisfy himself that the registrars and enumerators had in all cases duly performed the duties required of them. These several operations were to be completed by fixed days, and the different documents were to be transmitted to this Office as early as possible in May. Accordingly, by the end of that month, the householders schedules, amounting to about 4,500,000, the enumeration books, more than 31,000 in number, and the various other returns, were received here; and on the 7th of June, within two months from the date of the Census, we were enabled to present to the Secretary of State, for the purpose of being laid before Parliament a preliminary statement of the approximate numbers of the population and houses enumerated in England and Wales and the Islands in the British Seas, compiled from the summaries furnished by the local officers.

Subsequent revision

A careful revision of the enumeration books was then undertaken at the Census Office. Not only were all totals and summaries verified or corrected, but every entry was examined for the purpose of ascertaining that the particulars in the several columns were consistent with each other, and that the ages of the sexes wore entered in their allotted columns. On the completion of this minute but indispensable process of revision, which involved the examination of upwards of 20 millions of entries contained on more than one million pages of the enumeration books, the classification as well as the tabulation of the facts was proceeded with. The detailed abstracts arc contained in the two volumes which have already been presented to Parliament,—the first volume comprising the various Tables which show the numbers of the population, and of the houses enumerated, and their distribution over the country; and the second volume comprising the abstracts which exhibit the ages of the people, their occupations, birth-places, and condition as regards marriage, the numbers of the blind and of the deaf-and-dumb, with other particulars.

Collateral returns relating to Army, &c

The measures above detailed comprised all that was absolutely necessary to obtain the Census of the inhabitants of England and Wales, but it appeared desirable to obtain also several collateral returns relating cither to British subjects not residing within the United Kingdom, or to certain classes of the community already in part enumerated dispersedly among the general population. Accordingly, His Royal Highness the General Commanding-in-Chief was pleased to direct that a return should be made, distinguishing officers from non-commissioned officers and rank and file, by the commanding officer of every regiment or battalion of the British army at home and abroad, showing the ages, country of birth, and whether single, married, or widowers; also of the numbers and ages of the women and children. The Lords of the Admiralty, as already stated, directed that returns of a like nature should be furnished with respect to the officers and men of the Royal Navy. The Secretary of State for India in Council procured returns of the numbers, ages, civil condition, occupations, and birth-places of the British-born subjects (exclusive of the Army) resident in India at the date of the Census; and by the Secretary of State for the Colonies the latest returns of the population of the colonial possessions and dependencies of the British Crown were obtained. Through the intervention of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, returns of the number of British subjects residing in several foreign States were furnished by their respective governments, or by the consular agents of this country. The numerical results shown by these various returns will be found in Tables printed in the Appendix to this Report.


1 A facsimile of the householder's schedule is printed at pages 75, 76. About 80,000 schedules were printed in Welsh, for the use of the poorer native population of Wales. The weight of the schedules, blank enumeration books, and other forms despatched from the Central Office prior to 8th April exceeded 50 tons.

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