Wisdom Wednesday: Scotland By the Numbers

In 1851 there were 901 parishes in Scotland with a total population of 2,888,742 people. The country had grown by about 250,000 since 1841, when the population was 2,620,184. Ten years later, in 1861, the population had grown again to 3,360,018.

To get more family friendly facts, you may want to visit the website www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk . Click on the 'Census Timeline' button on the left listing. There you will find a section that highlights each census year with three ‘census facts’ in the areas of population, culture and health.  For 1851, the 'population fact' is that children under the age of fifteen were 36 percent of the total, but now that group is only 15 percent. The population is aging.

The 'health fact' for that decade shows that life expectancy for men was 40 years and for women was 44 years. Worse there was a one in seven chance that a baby would die before its first birthday. That's all a little sobering.

Each section also has a few ‘contemporary historical facts’ – headlines from the decade. In the mid-1850s, “David Livingstone , the Scottish missionary-explorer and human rights campaigner, reaches the Victoria Falls and describes them to a European audience for the first time.”

The 1851 census had a religious component. The Established church was Presbyterian, called the Church of Scotland, and the other groups, including the Church of England (COE), were classified as non-conformist.  The other sects seem to be mostly Quaker, Roman Catholic, COE, and the Free Church. The last is a denomination that broke away from the Church of Scotland in the 1840s.

What was your ancestors’ Scotland like - by the numbers? Your look into their world will be helped by this site.

Wisdom Wednesday: 1851 Religious Census

1851 was a significant year for the British Census. Ten years earlier, the 1841 Census listed people  individually, not by heads of households. Ages of adults were given in five year blocks. In 1851, every person was to be listed with their actual age. Two separate schedules were created at the same time and by the same enumerators, an educational survey and a religious census.

The religious census which covered all sects provided valuable information about the buildings, endowments, average attendance for the previous year and specific attendance at services and Sunday schools on 30 March 1851. Synagogues gave figures for 29 March.  The results were compiled by an assistant commissioner of the census, Horace Mann, in 1854. (Do not confuse him with the Massachusetts-born educational reformer with the same name.) His report was published as:

          Mann, Horace. Census of Great Britain, 1851: Religious Worship in England and Wales.     London:  Great Britain Census Office 1854.

Besides tables and graphs presenting the results, there is a section describing the history of religion in the UK, and the history and present status of the various denominations. Who knew that Mormons were active in the UK this early? There are a lot of Roman Catholic Churches. The census found 35 denominations, according to Mann.

          Note: To Google, use - "Horace Mann UK Religious census"

You can buy the book at www.amazon.co.uk.
Better, you can read it  free at the following sites: www.google.com/books, or         www.archive.org/stream/censusgreatbrit00manngoog#page/n5/mode/2up

A British historian, Richard Brown, has a blog, “Looking at History,” where he has written about this census and the history of religion in the UK. Check www.richardjohnbr.blogspot.com

Many counties transcribed and published results, including Hampshire, Norfolk and Sussex. I have the Norfolk volume from my local university library on my desk now.

          Ede, Janet and Norma Virgoe, eds. Religious Worship in Norfolk. Norwich: Norfolk Record Society, Vol.LXII, 1998.

The 1851 Census was the only time a country-wide religious survey was attempted in the UK. Ten years later there was some discussion of a repeat, but competing forces could not reconcile their ideas about proposed questions and content.

There were two later newspaper surveys done in London. “The results of the census conducted by the British Weekly in 1886 were published as The Religious Census of London (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1888), available online at www.openlibrary.org/b/OL14037667M
The census conducted in 1902-3 by the Daily News was particularly thorough and informative and was published as Richard Mudie-Smith, The Religious Life of London (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1904), with extensive commentaries and analysis. It is available online at www.archive.org/details/religiouslifeofl00mudi.” Source:

http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/building-on-history-project/resource-guide/source-guides/religiouscensuses.htm

The least reliable information from this census is probably the attendance estimates for the year. It certainly gives an idea of what alternative houses of worship existed in your ancestors’ area. The type of building they worshipped in is described.

Next time: How do you know your ancestors might not attend the Church of England?