Introduction

Next Selection Previous Selection

REPORT


ON THE

TWELFTH CENSUS OF SCOTLAND.



CENSUS OFFICE,
EDINBURGH, 27th June, 1913.

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THOMAS Mc KINNON WOOD, M.P.,

His Majesty's Secretary for Scotland.

SIR ,

We have now the honour of submitting the Second Volume of the Report on the Twelfth Census of Scotland, which was taken on the night of 2nd April, 1911.

We have already submitted a Preliminary Report of the Census, and this was followed later by the First Volume of the detailed Report. The Preliminary Report was prepared and published within a few weeks of the date of the Census; and dealt with the population figures of only the more important administrative divisions of the country. It was based upon Summaries compiled by the Registrars of the various districts throughout the country prior to the transmission of the Enumeration Books to the Census Office, and before their inspection and verification for the purposes of detailed tabulation of the results; and the figures given in the Preliminary Report were accordingly, as stated therein, essentially of a provisional nature. The First Volume of the Report was designed more especially to meet local requirements, and was issued in thirty-seven parts, each dealing exclusively with the Census of one of the four large cities, or with one of the thirty-three counties.

In the present Volume the results of the Census of the whole of Scotland are collected and dealt with; and for purposes of complete and convenient reference, though very considerable local detail is omitted, all the more important censal facts set forth in the First Volume are repeated in comprehensive and handy form.

We intend in the near future to submit to you our Third Volume, which deals with the statistics of some special subjects; such as the occupations of persons of English and Irish birth enumerated in Scotland, the distribution, nationalities, and occupations of foreigners, the numbering of the infirm, and the fertility statistics of existing marriages. The preparation of the Third Volume is now well advanced.

It has been usual in previous Census Reports to describe at some length the methods employed in taking the Census; but we do not propose to do so on the present occasion as the methods of enumeration adopted differed only in minor detail from those employed in immediately preceding Censuses, and the descriptions then given may accordingly be regarded as furnishing a reasonably accurate account of the procedure followed on this occasion.

There are, however, two points of difference between this Census and those immediately preceding, to which attention should be drawn, the one being the increased personal information collected in the householders' schedules, and the other the use of mechanical tabulation. The former covers two new subjects, viz., the industries to which the occupations of the individuals are related, and the fertility of the marriages of those enumerated. The industries of the population have already been shortly dealt with in the First Volume of the Report, but are tabulated in greater detail in this Volume; while, the fertility of marriage is, as above stated, a subject the consideration of which has been deferred, to the Third Volume. The use of mechanical tabulation has enabled the Census Returns to be more fully, and almost certainly more accurately, detailed and tabulated than has hitherto been the case. As instances of greater detail of tabulation made practicable, or at least greatly facilitated, by the use of the machines, we may mention the extensive particulars of parish and burgh populations given in the First Volume, and the tabulation by single ages of the population, and of the birthplaces of Gaelic speakers given in the present Volume. The elaborate tabulation of the industries of the population, also included in this Volume, is another instance, and in fact was only made feasible by the adoption of the method referred to.

A difference between the Tables to be found in this Report and in those of previous censuses consists in the omission of the publication of the populations of communities described as "Towns" and "Villages." The limits of the towns and villages as separately dealt with on previous occasions were not defined by any statutory boundaries, but were to a large extent arbitrary. It was felt, therefore, that the populations of such areas were of small statistical or administrative value—being founded on figures based more on individual opinion than on recognised fact. The omission, however, is to a large extent made good by the publication of the population figures of special water, drainage, scavenging, and lighting districts, as in the great majority of "Towns" and "Villages" of any importance one or other or more of these special districts have been set up, the populations of which may accordingly be taken as being those of the "Towns" and "Villages" bearing the same name. This matter is further referred to in the text of the Report.

In preparing the Census Report, we have considered it to be our primary duty to record facts rather than to draw inferences from them, the latter not being the function of those charged with the compilation and tabulation. Acting on this principle, we have endeavoured to make the tables full and self-explanatory, and have made no attempt to make the text an exhaustive description of the contents of the tables. In a few instances only, do we suggest what general theories or inferences may be drawn from them.

We have deemed it to be for the convenience of the reader to divide the descriptive portion of the Report into sections, and to follow each section by such Summary and Abstract Tables as may be necessary to illustrate the text. All the principal Tables, however, will be found collected and placed at the end of the text matter and its accompanying subsidiary Tables.

The Sections of the text, and the pages on which they respectively commence, are as follows:—

  1. Population Figures of Scotland and of its Principal Divisions, page v.
  2. Density of Population in Scotland and in the Counties, Parishes, and Burghs, page xlv.
  3. Ages and Conjugal Conditions of the Population, page 1
  4. Occupations of the Population, page lxvii.
  5. Industries of the Occupied, page lxxxvii.
  6. Birthplaces of the Population, page xci.
  7. Housing of the Population, page c.
  8. Gaelic-speaking Population, page civ.

In Section C, which deals with the Ages of the Population, are given four charts, two illustrating the present age distribution of the population, and comparing it with that found by the Census of 1901; and two showing the crude and the graduated distribution of the population at single ages.

We append to the text, on pages cix. to cxiv., a reprint of the Census (Great Britain) Act, 1910, and a copy of the householder's schedule used in the taking of the Census, in order to indicate the nature and source of the information dealt with in the tabulation.

We have the honour to be,

Sir,
  Your most obedient Servants,
  J. PATTEN MACDOUGALL,
Registrar General.
  JAMES C. DUNLOP,
Superintendent of Statistics.

Next Selection Previous Selection