Your correspondent "E.R.J.H." (No. 21. p. 330.) inquires whether any
general statistical returns, compiled from our early parish registers,
have been published. It must be a matter of regret to all who are
acquainted with the value of these national records--which for extent
and antiquity are unequalled in any other country--that this question
cannot be answered affirmatively. By the exertions of the late Mr.
Rickman, their importance, in a statistical point of view, has been
shown, but only to a very limited extent. In 1801, being entrusted with
the duty of collecting and arranging the returns of the first actual
enumeration of the population, he obtained from the clergyman of each
parish a statement of the number of baptisms and burials recorded in the
register book in every tenth year from 1700, and of marriages in every
consecutive year from 1754, when the Marriage Act of George II. took
effect. The results were published with the census returns of 1801; but,
instead of each parish being separately shown, only the totals of the
hundreds and similar county divisions, and of a few principal towns,
were given. In subsequent "Parish Register Abstracts" down to that of
1841, the same meagre information has been afforded by an adherence to
this generalising system.
In 1836, with a view of forming an estimate of the probable population
for England and Wales at certain periods anterior to 1801, Mr. Rickman,
acting upon the result of inquiries previously made respecting the
condition and earliest date of the register books in every parish,
applied to the clergy for returns of the number of baptisms, burials,
and marriages registered in three years at six irregular periods, viz.
A.D. 1570, 1600, 1630, 1670, 1700, and 1750. The clergy, with their
accustomed readiness to aid in any useful investigation, responded very
generally to the application, and Mr. Rickman obtained nearly 3000
returns of the earliest date required (1570), and nearly 4000 (from not
much less than half the parishes of England) as far back as 1600; those
for the more recent periods being tolerably complete from all the
counties. The interesting details thus collected have not been
published; nor am I able to say where the original returns, if still
extant, are deposited. In pursuance of this design, however, Mr. Rickman
proceeded with these materials to calculate the probable population of
the several counties on the supposition that the registered baptisms,
&c., in 1570, 1600, and at the other assigned periods, bore the same
proportion to the actual population as in 1801. The numerical results
are embodied in a table which appears in the _Census Enumeration
Abstract_ for 1841 (Preface, pp. 36, 37.), and it is stated that there
is reason for supposing the estimate arrived at to be an approximation
to the truth.
During the Civil Wars and the Protectorate, few parochial registers were
kept with any degree of accuracy; indeed, in many parishes they are
altogether defective at that period, owing to the temporary expulsion of
the clergy from their benefices. It is not improbable, therefore, that
the remarkable decrease of baptismal entries in the register book of
Chart next Sutton Valence may have arisen partly from imperfect
registration, as well as from the other causes suggested. But the
trifling increase observable after the Restoration undoubtedly points to
the conclusion arrived at by your corespondent--that a great diminution
had taken place in the population of the parish: and Mr. Rickman's
estimate above referred to gives a result for the entire county, which,
if it does not fully establish the supposed decrease, shows at least
that the registers of other Kentish parishes were affected in a similar
manner. The following is the estimated population of Kent, deduced from
the baptisms, burials, and marriages, by Mr. Rickman:--
A.D. Population
1570 136,710
1600 161,236
1630 189,212
1670 167,398
1700 157,833
1750 181,267
The population enumerated in 1801 was 307,624, which had increased to
548,337 in 1841.
Applying the average of England to the parish {443} of Chart, the 120
baptisms in the years 1640-1659, if representing the actual births,
would indicate a population of about 200 during that period; while the
246 entries in the previous twenty years would give upwards of 400
inhabitants. According to the several censuses, Chart contained 381
persons in 1801, and 424, 500, 610, 604, respectively, at the subsequent
decades.
While on the subject of parish registers, I may add, that a scheme has
been propounded by the Rev. E. Wyatt Edgell, in a paper read before the
Statistical Society, for transcribing and printing in a convenient form
the whole of the extant parish register books of England and Wales, thus
concentrating those valuable records, and preserving, before it is too
late, their contents from the effects of time and accidental injuries.
The want of funds to defray the cost of copying and printing is the one
great difficulty of the plan.