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The database we producing has the potential to revolutionise our understanding of British society in the nineteenth century in a number of areas.
Our database includes statistics taken from the Register General's Annual Reports for 1851, 1861 and 1871, detailing the numbers of, and causes death in each registration district.
As such, therefore, in conjunction with census material, the database might be used to search for those factors which both contributed to the death rate and explained why it varied between for example town and county
The Register General's Annual Reports included statistics showing the numbers of brides and grooms able to sign marriage registers. By using this information with census materials relating to the numbers of teachers and children, and various other factors, the state of nation's education system in the mid-nineteenth century might be examined.
The occupational tables included in the 1861 census volume were very detailed, and in total some 425 male and 275 female occupational categories are distinguished for each of the 635 registration districts into which England and Wales were then divided.
In consequence the database might be used to study the structure of employment across the nation as a whole at this time and to examine the distribution of particular occupational groups across the nation.
Since the data base includes information on the counties of birth of individuals residing in each registration district, it might be used to study the processes of migration in the nineteenth century.
Moreover, although the project is not directly looking at the census enumerators books (CEBs), the database may, nevertheless, be used in conjunction with them. The database for the 1831 Census when complete will contain the grid references of some 13,000 places in England and Wales, and by coding the birthplaces of individuals given in the CEBs for later censuses (principally 1851 and 1861), it will be possible to both: (a) calculate the distances travelled by migrants, and (b) examine the main characteristics of the birthplaces of particular groups of migrants.
To make our materials available to lecturers and students in higher education we are producing, in collaboration with Paul Ell, at Queen's University, Belfast, a teaching pack with materials relating not only
to Britain and Ireland as a whole but to individual counties and
Poor Law Unions also.
Our teaching pack includes:
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A SECOS database of statistical materials relating to Britain and Ireland in the nineteenth century. These include the census abstracts, vital registration statistics, the returns of the Poor Law Commissioners, agricultural statistics and crime statistics. |
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Abridged hypertext editions of Pigot's and Slater's Topographies of Britain and Ireland dating from the 1830s and 1840s. These include detailed descriptions of each county in Britain and Ireland, along with similar descriptions of their major towns and cities, and a selection of smaller towns and villages. |
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An introductory handbook, Counting Heads, by David A. Gatley and Paul S. Ell, with an historical account of the development of census and record keeping in Britain and Ireland, and a discussion of the problems and pitfalls involved in using the materials. |
Our teaching pack will be available in October or September this year. To order a copy email info@statsed.co.uk
A subset of variable from the 1861 census can be obtained from the Data Archive at the University of Essex.
For examples of how our materials might be used please 
click here.