The Express.
London, England, 1861-08-08 00:00:00

REGISTRAR•GENERAL'S ANNUAL REPORT.

The twenty-second annual report of the Registrar-
General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in England, has
been issued. In 1838 the names of 335,446 men and women
were inscribed on the marriage muter. ; of 689,881 chil-
dren on the registers of birth ; and of 440,781 persons of all
ages on the registered deaths. The total number of names
enrolled during the year amounted to nearly a million and
a half (1,466,108). On an average of twenty-two year*
there was 1 death to 43 living in the population,
1 birth to 30 living, and 1 person married to 61 living ;
and these proportions in the year 1859 became 1 in
46, 1 in 29, and 1 in 59 ; or, more exactly, the mortality
on the population was 2.7.36 per cent., on an average, and
nearly the same (2.232) in 18N1 • the average birth rate
was 3.3E6, the rate in 1869 being higher (3.494); the average
marriage rate was 1.636, and the rate in the last year also
higher, 1.698. The marriages in the year exceeded by 11,653
the marriages in the preceding year ; the births were 34,400
in excess ; the death 8,875 in defect, Consequently the
excess of births over deaths in the year was 43,275 above
the excess in the pooedin year, and amounted to 249,100.
This was the naturaled increase of the population of
England and Wales. The emigrant' of k.nglish crigm
amounted to about 40,245. To this extent, therefore, the
natural increase is diminished by emigration. Upon the
other hand, while the Emigration Commissioners record
the departure of 120,432, tlita:encord the return of 19,913
imi emiuts to the United Ki om ; and there is probably a
constant influx of the pop • of Scotland and Ireland
into England and Wales ; so that the census alone will
enable na to strike the exact balance. 167,723 marriages
were rentseendla Me yawl' Mtn eseeeding to the rites
of the established church, and 31,513 net asserding to thee*
rites. Of the marriages is the church, 19 were by special
license, 20,345 by license, 107,737 by banns, and 4,204 upon
superintendent registrars' certificates. The clergy omitted
in 3,905 cases to state whether the marriage was by linnse
or by beans. The minim." by banns increased more
rapidly than the marriages by license, and were
in proportion to those by licenses as 5,296 to 1. Of
the marriages not according to the rites of the esta-
blished church 12,519 were by protestant diameters, 7,756
by Roman catholic', 70 by Quakers, and 324 by Jews •
10,844 marriages, exceeding those of the Roman catholic*:
ware performed in superrutendent registrars' diem
137,000 bachelors married as many spinsters in the year,
and 8,161 widowers married the same number of widows ;
7,068 bachelors also married widows, end 15,493 spinsters
married widowers; consequently, 23,664 widowers and
15,219 widows remarried. Of 100 men marrying, 14.10
were widowers ; of 100 women marrying, 9.07 were wide'''.
10,397 young men and 32,041 young women under 21
years of age married in the year; so of 100 men,
6.20, and of 100 women, 19.10 were minors. 44,907
men and 63,127 women signed the married registers with
marks ; so that of 335,446 persona in the prime of life,
227,512 could write their names more or less distinctly • and
107,934 signed with marks, or 32.2 per cent. signed with
marks. Of the women, 37.6 in 100 ; of the men, 26.7 in 100
signed with marks ; so that the women do not write in the
same proportion as men. It is gratifying to trace the pro-
mos of education since 1841, when 32.7 men and 48.8
women in every 100 signed with marks, to 1869. when the
proportions fell to 26.7 and 37.6 respectively ; so that of
persons at the age of marriage, 6.0 more men, and 11'2 more
women in 100 now write their names than wrote 18 years
ago. 4,228 places of public worship were open far the
solemnisation of marriages, and registered on Jlst
her, 1859. This number exceeds by 156 the number on the
register at the same date of the ',revisal' year. The mar-
riages were most numerous after harvest in the Christmas
uarter of the year, and in the spring quarter, including
the months of April, May, and June. The marriage
rate is lowest in the Lent quarter, ending in
when the produce of the year is partly consumed.
The registered births, which declined in the previous
year, roes to 689,881 in 1859. The increaseis 34,400. The
birth rate of the year is 3.494, or lin 29. 352,662 boys
and 337,219 girls were born ; and 15,443 more boys than
girls, the proportions being 1,046 boys to 1,000 girls ; so that
the proportions were nearly 22 boys to 21 girls. The pro-
grof births in the several seasons of the year varied,
if we take the average births of each quarter at
1,000, the proportional births in the four quarters of the
year are represented by the numbers 1,032, 1,02'2, 968, and
978. These proportions differ from year to year • but the
births in the first exceed those in the second six ;meths of
the year. 44,751 children were horn out of wedlock, or 6.5
per cent. of the children born alive, and so registered as to
allow the distinction to be drawn. One in every 15 children
is in this condition, and has to encounter the hardships
incidental to it ; for hitherto mankind have treated the
innocent children with the opprobrium which properly
attaches only to the wean. To 100 girls, 105.7 boys were
born out of wedlook4 whenas to 100 girls 104.5 boys were
born io wedlock. The number of deaths was leas by 8,875
than the deaths in the year preceding ; and the rate of
mortality (2,742) was slightly below the average, 2,236. It
is nearly expressed by one death to every 45 of the popula-
tioa. The mortality of males was at the rate of 2.300, and
females at the rate of 2.167 per cent. annually. The deaths
of males were to the deaths of females as 103 to 100 ; and
out of equal numbers of the two sexes the propoi Lions be-
came 106 to 100. The rate of mortality under 10 years of
age was higher than usual in both sexes, and generally
lower et the more advanced ages. The winter was the most
fatal of the four quarters.