Determining England's Population - In the 1750s
In today’s world, there is a census count every ten years in which the end desire is to count each individual in the country, whether they are rural, small town, big city, hospitalized, imprisoned, or whatever, with results presented for every political area within the country. Many may complain about supposed errors in the count, but in fact the census results are highly accurate.
In England in the 1750’s the desire to know the population count was there, but the techniques to perform a count were meager. This offering contains two papers, presented to the Royal Society of London in 1757, that were published in 1758 in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Volume 50, Part I, 1758, that describe different approaches used by each author, the total population each determined, and the arguments why each was a better, more accurate count of the population.
The papers are:
1. A Letter to the Rev. Thomas Birch, D.D. Secr. concerning the Number of the People of England; by the Rev. Mr. Richard Forster, the Rector of Great Shefford in Berkshire. The paper, which is on pages 457 to 465 of the Transactions, describes the author’s basic approach, which involves “counting” all the houses and cottages in the area and concluding that there are 664,406 houses in rural areas, 388,646 houses in small towns, and 374,058 houses in cities and flourishing towns. He then assumes that the houses in the rural and small towns each has 5 residents while the houses in cities have 6, the larger number because the more prosperous residents of the cities have servants. When he is finished, his total population is 7,509,608.
2. A Letter to the Right Honourable the Earl of Macclesfield, President of the Royal Society, from the Rev. William Brakenridge, D.D. F.R.S. containing an answer to the Account of the Numbers and Increase of the People of England, by the Rev. Mr. Forster. The paper, which is on pages 465 to 479 of the Transactions, disagrees with the first paper on the techniques of house counting and assigning residents per house. as well as how to calculate the growth rate of the population. The author concludes that England’s population was ”...near about five million and an half; which at the utmost, is what I insist on to be the real number.”
The papers, which have been disbound from the Transactions, measure approximately 6 x 8 1/2 inches. The pages are tanned, but the text is clear and easily read. The overall condition of the item is good/very good.
The illustrations accompanying this description show:
· The first page of the first paper (page 457)
· A typical page in the first paper (page 460)
· The first page of the second paper (page 465)
· A typical page in the second paper (page 467)
· Another page from the second paper (page 478)
In today’s world, there is a census count every ten years in which the end desire is to count each individual in the country, whether they are rural, small town, big city, hospitalized, imprisoned, or whatever, with results presented for every political area within the country. Many may complain about supposed errors in the count, but in fact the census results are highly accurate.
In England in the 1750’s the desire to know the population count was there, but the techniques to perform a count were meager. This offering contains two papers, presented to the Royal Society of London in 1757, that were published in 1758 in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Volume 50, Part I, 1758, that describe different approaches used by each author, the total population each determined, and the arguments why each was a better, more accurate count of the population.
The papers are:
1. A Letter to the Rev. Thomas Birch, D.D. Secr. concerning the Number of the People of England; by the Rev. Mr. Richard Forster, the Rector of Great Shefford in Berkshire. The paper, which is on pages 457 to 465 of the Transactions, describes the author’s basic approach, which involves “counting” all the houses and cottages in the area and concluding that there are 664,406 houses in rural areas, 388,646 houses in small towns, and 374,058 houses in cities and flourishing towns. He then assumes that the houses in the rural and small towns each has 5 residents while the houses in cities have 6, the larger number because the more prosperous residents of the cities have servants. When he is finished, his total population is 7,509,608.
2. A Letter to the Right Honourable the Earl of Macclesfield, President of the Royal Society, from the Rev. William Brakenridge, D.D. F.R.S. containing an answer to the Account of the Numbers and Increase of the People of England, by the Rev. Mr. Forster. The paper, which is on pages 465 to 479 of the Transactions, disagrees with the first paper on the techniques of house counting and assigning residents per house. as well as how to calculate the growth rate of the population. The author concludes that England’s population was ”...near about five million and an half; which at the utmost, is what I insist on to be the real number.”
The papers, which have been disbound from the Transactions, measure approximately 6 x 8 1/2 inches. The pages are tanned, but the text is clear and easily read. The overall condition of the item is good/very good.
The illustrations accompanying this description show:
· The first page of the first paper (page 457)
· A typical page in the first paper (page 460)
· The first page of the second paper (page 465)
· A typical page in the second paper (page 467)
· Another page from the second paper (page 478)
In today’s world, there is a census count every ten years in which the end desire is to count each individual in the country, whether they are rural, small town, big city, hospitalized, imprisoned, or whatever, with results presented for every political area within the country. Many may complain about supposed errors in the count, but in fact the census results are highly accurate.
In England in the 1750’s the desire to know the population count was there, but the techniques to perform a count were meager. This offering contains two papers, presented to the Royal Society of London in 1757, that were published in 1758 in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Volume 50, Part I, 1758, that describe different approaches used by each author, the total population each determined, and the arguments why each was a better, more accurate count of the population.
The papers are:
1. A Letter to the Rev. Thomas Birch, D.D. Secr. concerning the Number of the People of England; by the Rev. Mr. Richard Forster, the Rector of Great Shefford in Berkshire. The paper, which is on pages 457 to 465 of the Transactions, describes the author’s basic approach, which involves “counting” all the houses and cottages in the area and concluding that there are 664,406 houses in rural areas, 388,646 houses in small towns, and 374,058 houses in cities and flourishing towns. He then assumes that the houses in the rural and small towns each has 5 residents while the houses in cities have 6, the larger number because the more prosperous residents of the cities have servants. When he is finished, his total population is 7,509,608.
2. A Letter to the Right Honourable the Earl of Macclesfield, President of the Royal Society, from the Rev. William Brakenridge, D.D. F.R.S. containing an answer to the Account of the Numbers and Increase of the People of England, by the Rev. Mr. Forster. The paper, which is on pages 465 to 479 of the Transactions, disagrees with the first paper on the techniques of house counting and assigning residents per house. as well as how to calculate the growth rate of the population. The author concludes that England’s population was ”...near about five million and an half; which at the utmost, is what I insist on to be the real number.”
The papers, which have been disbound from the Transactions, measure approximately 6 x 8 1/2 inches. The pages are tanned, but the text is clear and easily read. The overall condition of the item is good/very good.
The illustrations accompanying this description show:
· The first page of the first paper (page 457)
· A typical page in the first paper (page 460)
· The first page of the second paper (page 465)
· A typical page in the second paper (page 467)
· Another page from the second paper (page 478)