Parish Register Abstract
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THE Second object of the Population Act of 1801, was to ascertain the Increase or Diminution of the Population during the preceding Century, by means of the PARISH REGISTERS; to effect which object certain Questions were appointed to be answered by the officiating Minister of every Church and Chapel in England and Wales: and the Population Acts of 1811 and 1821 repeat the same Questions, each for the preceding Ten Years. The Population Act of 1801 extended this enquiry to Scotland also; but it appeared in the sequel, that few Registers are kept in that Country, only 99 Returns having been received; so that it was useless to repeat the Question as regarding Scotland, in the Acts of 1811 and 1821. The Questions respecting Parish Registers, and Chapelry Registers, were as follow: QUESTIONS Addressed to the OFFICIATING MINISTERS in England, by whom a Return is to be made to the Bishop, on or before the 21st day of June 1821. 1st
-WHAT was the Number of Baptisms and Burials in your Parish, Town ship, or Place, in the several Years 1811, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20; distinguishing Males from Females? 2d
-WHAT has been the Number of Marriages in your Parish, Township, or Place, in the several Years 1811, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20? 3d
-ARE there any Matters which you think it necessary to remark, in Explanation of your Answers to either of the preceding Questions- Especially whether any and what annual Average Number of Baptisms, Burials, and Marriages, may, in your opinion, take place in your Parish, without being entered in the Parish Register? THE Clergy of England and Wales were enabled to answer the two first of these Questions, by having recourse to the PARISH REGISTERS, which have been established in England ever since the Reformation, and were further regulated by Law in the year 1812. When it was enacted in the Reign of Henry VIII, that the Church of England should be no longer subject to the Pope, Thomas Cromwell was appointed the King's Viceregent for Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction; and in that capacity issued certain Injunctions to the Clergy in the year 1538. One of these Injunctions ordains, That every officiating Minister shall, for every Church, keep a Book, wherein he shall register every Marriage, Christening, and Burial; and the Injunction goes on to direct the manner and time of making the Entries in the Register-Book weekly; any neglect therein being made penal:-and in the first year of Edw. VI, (Anno 1547,) all Episcopal authority was suspended for a time, while the ecclesiastical Visitors then appointed, went through the several Dioceses to enforce divers Injunctions, and among others that respecting Parish Registers. This Injunction was again repeated in the beginning of the Reign of Elizabeth, who also appointed a Protestation to be made by the Clergy, in which among other things, they promised to keep the Register-Book in a proper manner. The Canons of the Church of England, which are now in force, date their authority from the beginning of the Reign of James I, (Anno 1603,). One of them prescribes very minutely in what manner Entries are to be made in the Parish Registers; herein reciting the Injunction of 1538, and ordering an attested Copy of the Register of each successive Year to be annually transmitted to the Bishop of the Diocese or his Chancellor, and to be preserved in the said Bishop's Registry. This Canon also contains a retrospective Clause, appointing that the ancient Registers, so far as they could be procured, but especially since the beginning of the Reign of Elizabeth, should be copied into a Parchment Book, to be provided by every Parish. This wise regulation appears to have been carried into full effect at the time; so that the ancient Parish Registers now extant, usually commence with that Queen's Reign, and some of them earlier, quite as far back as the Date of the original Injunction. That part of the Canon which directs the Register-Book to be kept in a Coffer in the Church, has not been enforced, as it was found by experience that the Book was liable to be damaged by the moisture prevalent in. uninhabited Buildings, and also to be purloined with the other contents of the Church Coffer. The Register-Book was heretofore usually kept in custody of the Officiating Minister, at his own House, if resident on the Benefice, otherwise in that of the Parish Clerk; but the Act 52 Geo. III, c. 146, has made some alteration in this and other particulars. This Law is intituled, "An Act for the better regulating and preserving Parish and "other Registers of Births, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials in England," but does not appear to fulfil its intention as to Births. It received the Royal Assent on the 28th July 1812, and enacts that the Registers of Parishes, and of Chapelries (where the ceremonies of Baptism, Marriage and Burial are performed) shall be kept in Books of Parchment, or of good and durable paper, whereon shall be printed the Heads of Information required to be entered;. also a printed number prefixed to each future entry, such entries to be divided by a printed line. The King's Printer was charged to provide and transmit such Register Books as soon as conveniently might be after the passing of the Act, which was to take effect on the 1st January 1813: and with no small exertion on his part, the entire number of Register Books, upwards of 33,000, (three to each Parish and Chapelry) were printed, bound and transmitted, before that time, although no preparation could be hazarded before the Act received the Royal Assent, as it was very likely to stand over to a future Session. The provisions of this Act are not such (generally speaking) as were likely to affect the Returns of Registers under the Population Act of 1821, excepting only that a very distinct mention of the Registry of Baptisms " whether Private or Public," has evidently added to the number of Registered Baptisms, (to an uncertain amount indeed) and in so far has been useful; but it precludes any inference which otherwise might be drawn from a comparison of the respective numbers of Registered Baptisms which took place before and since the end of the year 1812. The Act proceeds to direct, that the Register Books shall be kept in a dry well-painted iron chest, to be kept at the residence of the officiating Minister, or in the Parish Church or Chapel; also that Copies on Parchment of all Registers shall be sent annually to the Registrar of each Diocese; enforcing in this respect the before mentioned Canon, with particular directions as to the form and manner of transmissal, and subsequent arrangement of these. Copies by the Registrar; but this last intention cannot be accomplished until proper Buildings or Receptacles in each Diocese, and a fund for payment of the persons employed in such arrangement, shall have been provided. The Act extends to Cathedrals, and to Churches and Chapels of all sorts, though not Parochial; and this has somewhat augmented the number of Returns received under the Population Act, although it has added very little to the number of Baptisms or of Burials returned. At the close of the Act of 1812, it is specially provided, That nothing therein contained shall extend to repeal any provision of the Marriage Act; of which it will be necessary to say something in the proper place; the strictness of its provisions as to the Registry of all Marriages, having furnished excellent and most useful Returns under the successive Population Acts. THE Number of Returns of Parish Registers and Chapelry Registers received from England and Wales in the year 1801, (including a Supplementary Return) was supposed to be 11,065, which was not far from the number really due; but from the circumstances of a new inquiry, some of these were redundant, some were duplicate, and in many instances (on the contrary) no Return was made. The discovery of a large degree of inaccuracy in the Supplement of 1801, arising from Duplicates, and a certain, knowledge that the Parish Register Abstract of that year had necessarily been formed with a degree of expedition not permitting sufficient investigation, was a cogent reason for proceeding more cautiously on the next occasion; and this was the more necessary, as the Return of 1811 was to be compared with that of 1801, which standing alone, and being intended merely to show the Increase or Diminution of the Population during the last Century, was not much less effectual for its own particular purpose, although a considerable proportion of the Parish Register Returns Were not brought to account; the result of a comparison of the several years with each other, not being much affected by it. This consideration, though a sufficient excuse for attending to expedition rather than to the completion of the Returns of 1801, was no longer valid in 1811; and particular care was then taken accordingly, both by marking the name of every supposed Benefice and Curacy on a set of County Maps, and checking the Returns by that criterion, as well as by all other authorities which could be obtained; this was a laborious task, and gave rise to above Two Thousand Applications to officiating Clergymen and others, and to a large correspondence, which however produced 857 additional Returns, and left no room to doubt but that sufficient knowledge was thus procured to insure a complete Return on any future occasion. It is obviously needless in the year 1822, to detail the process by which the Returns of 1801 and 1811 were connected for the purpose of comparison; on a balance of the redundant and the deficient, the Baptisms were deemed to be deficient as One to Thirty-two; the Burials as One to Twenty-nine; the Marriages as One to Fifty; and additions were made accordingly, to which it is sufficient to refer without repeating a page of figures and calculations, which was very necessary in the Preliminary Observations of 1811. The number of Baptisms, Burials, and Marriages, in the last Twenty years (1801-1820) is here subjoined, as not liable to imputation of uncertainty, such as has been above explained. The Number of Returns of Parish Registers and Chapelry Registers collected under the Population Act of 1811 was 11,159; under the Act of 1821, the Number is increased to 11,342, from a cause which has been already stated, but which does not materially affect the comparison of the two Abstracts. Further it may be proper to remark, that the Number of Benefices in England and Wales is by no means equal to the Number of Parishes; because in many instances Two or more Parishes are permanently united as one Benefice; and in the Diocese of Norwich, which includes Norfolk and Suffolk, the Diocesan has the privilege of granting a personal Union of Parishes, on account of the small extent and value of many Benefices in those Counties. The PARISH-REGISTER ABSTRACT has been framed with special Reference to the SUMMARY of each County in the ENUMERATION ABSTRACT; so that every Total of Persons which there appears, may be compared with a corresponding Annual Total of Baptisms, Burials, and Marriages; and an Annual Average of these for each entire County, may be obtained by the easy process of dividing the Total (which appears under each County Summary) by Ten;-and further to facilitate general Calculations, the Annual proportion of the Baptisms, Burials, and Marriages, to the Population of each County, is also given at the end of these Observations. Every place which has made Return of a Register, is distinguished in the Parish-Register Abstract, as Rectory (R.) Vicarage (V.) Parochial Chapelry (P. C.) Chapelry or Curacy (C.) As the Marriage Register may be deemed correct; next to it, the Register of Burials; and lastly, the Register of Baptisms, it will be found most convenient to treat of each distinctly, and in that order. MANY Inconveniencies having arisen from the undue Solemnization and Registry of Marriages, an Act was passed in the 26o
Geo. II, "for the better preventing of Clandestine Marriages," which directs a certain Formula for the Registry of Marriages, to be attested and signed by the Minister officiating, the Persons married, and two or more Witnesses; and declares any Erasure or Mutilation of the Marriage Register, or any False Entry therein, to be Felony without Benefit of Clergy
; nor can a Marriage be legally solemnized in any Chapel consecrated, since this Law was made. A retrospective Relaxation of the Act in this particular case took place in 1781, under an Act by which Marriages already solemnized in such Chapels, were declared to be valid13
; but the Registers of such Marriages were ordered to be forthwith removed to the Parish Church. Some few Persons are known to evade the provisions of the Marriage Act, by a Mar riage in Scotland; but the Registry of Marriages in England is not much affected thereby, because the Parents or friends of the Female who has been thus irregularly married, usually cause such Marriages to be afterwards solemnized according to the Law of England. The Marriages of Dissenters of every denomination take place in the Established Church; but not those among Quakers, who are permitted to intermarry in their own, Congregation. To these may be added the Jews, who marry according to their own peculiar Ceremonial; but neither of these religious Sects are numerous; so that the Re turns made, pursuant to the Population Act, ought to comprehend almost the total Number of actual Marriages; and the above causes of a small deficiency are not (all of them) likely to be removed. A great variation in the annual Number of Marriages is caused by the circumstances of the times, and especially by the price of provisions; the difference arising from this cause is such, that no safe inference concerning the Increase or Diminution of Population can be drawn from the comparison of any single Years with each other: But the average Amount of the Marriages for five years together, or for a longer period, is the best evidence on the subject, because the Register of Marriages may be deemed perfectly correct. As it is intended, throughout the present Observations, to give the most important Results of the Acts of 1801 and 1811, as well as of 1821, the following TABLE not only shows the Number of Marriages in each Year since 1754, but also the average Amount of Marriages for every Five, and for every Ten Years since the Marriage Act has been fully in force. It will appear in the sequel of these Remarks, that Results drawn from this Table would be very similar to the Results drawn from the Registered Baptisms. II.- Parish Register Abstract.
NUMBER OF BAPTISMS; BURIALS; AND MARRIAGES
YEAR
BAPTISMS
YEAR
BURIALS
MARRIAGES
MALES
FEMALES
TOTAL
MALES
FEMALES
TOTAL
1801
120,521
116,508
237,029
1801
101,352
103,082
204,434
67,228
1802
139,889
133,948
273,837
1802
99,504
100,385
199,889
90,396
1803
150,220
143,888
294,108
1803
102,459
101,269
203,728
94,379
1804
150,583
144,009
294,592
1804
91,538
89,639
181,177
85,738
1805
149,333
142,868
292,201
1805
91,086
90,154
181,240
79,586
1806
147,376
144,553
291,929
1806
92,289
91,163
183,452
80,754
1807
153,787
146,507
300,294
1807
97,996
97,855
195,851
83,923
1808
151,565
144,509
296,074
1808
102,614
98,149
200,763
82,248
1809
152,812
147,177
299,989
1809
97,894
93,577
191,471
83,369
1810
152,591
146,262
298,853
1810
104,907
103,277
208,184
84,470
1811
155,671
149,186
304,857
1811
94,971
93,572
188,543
86,389
1812
153,949
148,005
301,954
1812
95,957
94,445
190,402
82,066
1813
160,685
153,747
314,432
1813
93,726
92,751
186,477
83,860
1814
163,282
155,524
318,806
1814
103,525
102,878
206,403
92,804
1815
176,233
168,698
344,931
1815
99,442
97,966
197,408
99,944
1816
168,801
161,398
330,199
1816
103,954
102,005
205,959
91,946
1817
169,337
162,246
331,583
1817
101,040
98,229
199,269
88,234
1818
169,181
162,203
331,384
1818
107,724
105,900
213,624
92,779
1819
171,107
162,154
333,261
1819
106,749
106,815
213,564
95,571
1820
176,311
167,349
343,660
1820
104,329
104,020
208,349
96,833
CONCERNING THE REGISTRY OF MARRIAGES
IN THE YEAR 1755 THE NUMBER OF MARRIAGES (ADDING A SUPPLEMENTARY FIFTIETH PART, FOR DEFICIENCY OF RETURNS UNDER THE ACT OF 1801,*) WAS 49,379;
NUMBER OF MARRIAGES IN EACH YEAR FROM 1755 TO 1800.
PERIODS
MEDIUM AVERAGE OF FIVE YEARS
MEDIUM OF AVERAGES OF TEN YEARS
A.D.
MARRIAGES
A.D.
MARRIAGES
A.D.
MARRIAGES
-
-
-
1756
50,972
1771
60,612
1786
68,992
1755 TO 1760 INCLUSIVE
52,666
56,275
1757
48,300
1772
60337
1787
76,448
1760 TO 1765
59,883
1758
50,672
1773
59,769
1788
70,032
1765 TO 1770
59,043
59,892
1759
55,537
1774
60,512
1789
70,696
1770 TO 1775
60,741
1760
57,848
1775
62,473
1790
70,648
1775 TO 1780
64,238
65,479
1761
58,101
1776
65,462
1791
72,590
1780 TO 1785
66,722
1762
56,543
1777
65,020
1792
74,919
1785 TO 1790
71,363
71,784
1763
62,233
1778
62,727
1793
72,880
1790 TO 1795
72,205
1764
63,310
1779
63,671
1794
71,797
1795 TO 1800
74,998
79,231
1765
59,227
1780
64,309
1795
68,839
1800 TO 1805
83,465
1766
57,043
1781
63,768
1796
73,107
1805 TO 1810
82,953
85,985
1767
55,324
1782
63,071
1797
74,997
1810 TO 1815
89,012
1768
58,331
1783
66,287
1798
79,477
1815 TO 1820
93,073
-
1769
61,825
1784
68,935
1799
77,557
-
1770
62,693
1785
71,509
1800
69,851
FOR THE MARRIAGES IN EACH YEAR FROM 1801 TO 1820 INCLUSIVE, SEE P. XXIII.
*This fact was ascertained very carefully in 1812, as is detailed in the Preliminary Observations to the Abstract of 1811 (p. xix.)
The Annual proportion of Marriages to the Population is as one to 134 in England and Wales, the several Counties ranging from one in 106 to one in 179; [See p. xxxiii.] the extremes take place in Middlesex and in Hertfordshire, the custom of surreptitiously, marrying in the Metropolis increasing the number of Marriages therein, at the expence of the adjacent Counties.
CONCERNING THE REGISTRY OF BURIALS.
THE Registry of Burials may be supposed to be deficient, on the following considerations:
1. Many Congregations of Dissenters, inhabiting Towns, have their own peculiar Burying-grounds; as have the Jews, and the Roman Catholics, who reside in London.
2. Some Persons from motives of poverty or convenience, inter their Dead without any religious ceremony. But in estimating the deficiency from, this cause, it should be considered that a place must be very populous before the establishment of cheap Burial-grounds can become a profitable speculation. Such there are in the Metropolis, in Bristol, and in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. But the Number of Interments within the London Bills of Mortality is not wholly unknown f; and of the Interments at the Ballast-Hills near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, a Register or Account is kept, of which a Return was received, and entered.
3. Children who die before Baptism are interred without any religious ceremony, and consequently are not registered.
4. Negligence may be supposed to cause some omissions in the Registers, especially in those of small Benefices, where the Officiating Minister is not resident.
5. Many Persons employed in the Army, and in Navigation, die Abroad; and consequently their Burials remain unregistered.
The Annual Number of Burials, as collected in pursuance of the Three Population Acts, authorizes a satisfactory inference of diminishing Mortality in England; the average Number of Burials not differing materially from, the Year 1780 to the Year 1800; the first Five Years of that period, the last Five Years, and the whole period, giving the same average result; not but that the effect of the Dearths by which England was afflicted in 1795 and 1800, is very perceptible in the increased mortality of those years. Many other, and no doubt very various considerations would occur to every Investigator of such a subject; especially the doubt as to how many years of the Burial Register ought to be applied as a Divisor to existing Population. If, for instance, the average Number of Registered Burials in the preceding Ten Years, is applied to the Number of persons resident in England and Wales in the Year 1821, the Annual Mortality very little exceeds one in Sixty; but if the Registered Burials of the Year 1820 are applied in like manner, the result is a mortality of one in Fifty-seven or Fifty-eight, which last proportion (Burials not brought into the account considered) is perhaps nearest to the truth.
The same calculations, founded on the numerical results of the Population Act of 1811, shew a Mortality of one in Fifty-two, and one in Fifty respectively. The rate of Mortality in die Year 1801 has heretofore been taken at one in Forty-seven; in 1790, at one in Forty-five; in 1780 at one in Forty14 : so that on the whole the annual Mortality seems to have decreased from one in Forty, to one in Fifty-eight (nearly one-third) in Forty Years.
The causes of increase in the duration of human life (hereby indicated) will no doubt be investigated by those who are able to elucidate the subject;-houses less crowded, better food, better clothing, and more cleanliness among the numerous classes of Society, cannot have been without some effect; and to these may be added the increased extent of Drainage, which may have acted beneficially on the health of the Agricultural Population.
The improved treatment of Diseases is stated in many of the Returns, as a cause of increasing Population, and especially the substitution of Vaccination for the Small Pox;- infectious Fevers have almost disappeared, even in the Metropolis; and Intermittents, which till lately under the name of Ague, infested the country very extensively (especially the Fen Districts) are no longer spoken of. So in former times, the Plague (as it was called) Disappeared as soon, as the City of London had been rebuilt after the great Fire of 1666; so the Land-Scurvy, and before that the Leprosy, became gradually extinct when the Reformation of Religion, and improvements in Agriculture, had removed the necessity of eating Salt-fish and Salted Meat during the greater portion of the year.
The Mortality in the several Counties of England ranges between one in 47, and one in 72; Middlesex and Sussex being the extremes. In Anglesey, the Mortality is stated at one in 83.
CONCERNING THE REGISTRY OF BAPTISMS.
THE Registry of Baptisms is deficient from the same causes as that of Burials, and from most of those causes in a greater degree.
1. Many Dissenters of every denomination (those especially who reside at a distance from any other Burial-place) from motives of decency or convenience bury their dead in the Cemeteries of the Established Church, though they baptize after their own manner, or not at all. The Question respecting Unentered Baptisms and Burials showed a differ ence of nearly Four to One in the degree of Deficiency in the year 1811, the Annual Average Number of Unentered Baptisms (as stated at the end of the several Counties) having been 14,860; of Burials (setting .aside London) 3,899; at present the proportion is Five to One in the degree of deficiency, the Annual Average Number of Unentered Baptisms (as stated at the end of the several Counties), being 23,066; of Burials, setting aside London, 4,657. Nor does this represent the full amount or proportion of Un entered Baptisms, die Clergy of the most populous places, especially where many of the Inhabitants are Dissenters, usually declining to hazard an Estimate. A Burial Ground on the contrary is a visible object, and among the persons connected with it, the Clergyman, can usually procure an Account (more or less accurate) of the Number of Interments.
2. Some irreligious Persons, especially in large Towns, neglect the Rite of Baptism altogether.
3. Some Children die immediately after Birth, unbaptized; these however not being registered among the Burials, the Comparison is not affected from this cause. The great defect in Baptismal Registers heretofore arose from Private Baptism, which is carried to an extent not at all in the contemplation of the Founders of the Church of England; for the Canon ordaining Registers applies to Christenings, without further explanation; and this word is usually understood to mean Publick Baptism only. The practice of the Clergy is not uniform on this point; and it appears from the Remarks subjoined to some of the Parish-Register Returns of 1811, that the Registry of Private Baptisms was refused in many places, from a conscientious desire thereby to induce persons to cause their Children to be publickly received into the Congregation: but the Parish Register Act of 1812 no longer leaves this optional, and the effect of it has been such, that Registered Baptisms, which heretofore were 147 to 100 as compared to the Burials, are increased since the year 1811, so as to exceed the Burials in the proportion of 162 to 100.
4. Negligence may be supposed to cause the same proportion of Omissions in the Registry of Baptisms as in that, of Burials.
The whole Number of Baptisms collected for the purposes of the Population Acts of 1801, 1811, and 1821, appears to be 12,570,083: of these, 6,418,422 Males; 6,151,661 Females: So that the Baptisms of Males are 10,433 to 10,000 Females.-The whole Number of Burials appears to be 9,126,031: of these, 4,568,828 Males, 4,557,213 Females; a remarkable equality in so large a number; whence it may be inferred, that the larger proportion of Males born (4 per cent,) is also the proportion dying Abroad in the employments of War and Commerce.
The proportion of Baptisms to the Population is as one to 35 in England and Wales; the several Counties of England range between one in 31, and one in 47; Kent and Monmouth being the extremes. In Brecon the proportion is stated at one in 53.
FOOTNOTES
13 . 1 Geo.III. c.53.
14 . See Prelim. Observ. 1811. p.xxii.