The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-01-07 00:00:00

THE DECREASE OF MARRIAGE.

In the annual report by the Registrar-General for
England and Wales, which has just been issued, the
population of that part of the kingdom in the middle
of 1886 is estimated at 27,870,586. On this popula-
tion all the ratios in the report are founded. The ex-
cess of births over deaths since the census of 1881
would give a higher population by more than 75,000.
The inference is that the emigration exceeds the immi-
gration. Account must also be taken of the marriage-
rate, which in 1885 was the lowest recorded since civil
registration began, and had only once before been so
low—namely, in 1879. The present report, for the
year 1886, shows a still futher decline, making the
marriage-rate for that year absolutely the lowest
yet on record, starting with the year 1838.
The number of persons married was at the rate of 17-9
per 1000 of the population in 1853. This was the
highest rate. In 1882 the ratio had dropped to 15-5, and
from that period there has been a continual decline,
last year showing a ratio as low as 14-1, compared
with 14-4 in 1885. The ratio of Church marriages to
the total number of marriages varies greatly in dif-
ferent parts of the country. The highest proportion
exceeds 80 per cent., and of this London affords an
example, together with the immediately surrounding
counties, as also Staffordshire, Worcestershire, and
Rutland. Jewish marriages are steadily on the in-
crease, despite the fact that the general marriage-rate
is declining. The proportion of Jewish marriages to
the total is now double what it was twenty years ago.
One of the tables given in the report shows that the
proportion of marriages according to the rites of the
Church of England has undergone a considerable
decline since 1841. In that year, out of 1000 mar-
riages in England and Wales, 934 were Church mar-
riages. In 1846 they sank below 900, in 1861 below
800, and they are now little more than 700. The
Roman Catholic marriages have shown no great
variation in ratio since 1850 ; but the marriages
among "other Christian denominations " have
risen in their ratio to the total, increasing from
48 per 1000 marriages in 1844 to 117 in 1886. The
ratio of civil marriages, in the offices of superintendent
registrars, has also risen. In 1850 they just exceeded
40 per 1000 marriages, in 1861 they exceeded 70, in
1873 they exceeded 100, and during each of the last
two years they have amounted to 130. Concurrently
with the falling-off in the marriage-rate we find, as
might be expected, that the age at marriage is advanc-
ing. This latter process has been going on for the
last 13 years. The average ages of bachelors and
spinsters at marriage in 1886 were the highest on
record. Yet the Registrar-General states that " under-
age marriages are still very numerous." As many as
8 per cent. of the bachelors, and nearly one-fourth of
the spinsters, who were married in 1886 were under
21 years of age. Early marriages are character-
istic of the working class. Working men marry
earlier in life than clerks, clerks earlier than farmers
and their sons, and these earlier than individuals of
the professional and independent class. Spinsters in
humble life also marry earlier than those of higher
grade. Of all ranks, miners and what are termed
"textile hands" marry earliest. Rut, in passing-tip-
wards through the various ranks, it is observable th: t
the age rises more rapidly among the bachelors than
among the spinsters.

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