The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1854-09-21
THE CON JUGAL CONDITION OF THE BRITISH
PEOPLE

THE CON JUGAL CONDITION OF THE BRITISH
PEOPLE.
From the statistics contained in the recent
~ published census report OF Great Britain, we
select tho following interesting particulars rel
alive to the civil and copjugal condition of the
people
The average age Of the wife in Great Britain
is 1905 years; of the husband, 43O5 years; or.
in other words, the husband or the average il
nearly two and half years older than the
wife The disparities of age are generally in
the direction that popular observation would
indicate; for while the age of the husband and
wife falls in 1929, 0O8 instances within the
same quinquenaid the wife belongs in ,4O9. 275
instances to the earlier ages and in only AGA 69l
instances to the ages older than the age Of the
husband The degree Of disparity differs and
Is greatest at the extreme age of either SEX
| Women of the age Of 20--4O give birth, prob
ably, to seven in every eight children, and it is
seen that of ,7O3,475 wives of the age 2O-4O
there are ,397, 453 married to husbands of that
| age; 297 O45 to husbands of 40--60 while only
| 1920 OF these wives are united 70 husbands un-
der 20; and 1857 to husbands of sixty and up
wards
| The disparity of age has wide range; and
| the returns show one instance in which a man
of 30-35 is married to a woman of 9O--95,
| and four in which men Of 95-100 are married
to women Of $50. There is a certain regu-
larity i'll the numbers that marry at different
ages and in such degree as indicates that
the acts which appear to result from arbitrary
volition and chance, are the result of regulated
contingencies, which in their course obey laws
| and follow rules as definite as any that sway
the relations of the physical phenomena Of in
| organic matter. Thus the tables show that
while 124, 55 husbands are united to wives of
the same period as themselves (45-50 J
there are 38,07s, 9126, 2,4S8 6i8, 157, 46,
who are married to women respectively on an
average 5, 10, Is, 20, %, and 30 years older
than themselves Now, the proportion of the
first number to the second is nearly as IL to
| and from 3S,07S series is obtained, on sue
cessively dividing by 4, not differing much from
the numbers in the actual series. The theoret
ical series is 3S 07S, $50, 1850, 595, 149, and
81. The tendency in marriage is stronger that
unites husbands to wives Of the same age-peri-
cd; and it would appear that the reciprocal
attractiVeness of the sexes diminishes in the
distance of age at rates which may ultimately
BIO expressed by some simple mathematical for
mula
From this the report argues that the passions
and affections Of men are governed by laws as
certain as those Of the heavenly bodies or any
| of the phenomena of nature, and therefore that
! it is possible to calculate with accuracy the
| conduct which will, in the case Of large masses
of men, spring from these motvee Although
the act Of no particular always be predict
ed with the certainty which the fortune teller
or the astrologist claims for his vaccinations
yet it is nevertheless true that the acts of NUM-
bers of individuals can be predicted with sufi-
cient certainty for practical purposes: for the
marriage returns and these enumeratiOns. in
conjunction with the life table, furnish the
means of calculating the chances that man
or woman, young or old, and unmarried, will
marry before in, or after given year of ago
of calculating the probability of remaining q
spinster bachelor, or Of being in the mar
ried tate at any given age-the probability of
bearing chldren-or of being widower or a
widow and these calculations will serve not
merely to crafty idle curiosity, but. to guide
the course of mems lvea to regulate the popu-
lation, to make provisions for children who
marry well as for those who do not marry
and to direct the establishment aud conduct OF
social institutions which may mitigate the ca
lamites Of premature death
The returns indicate the existence in Great
Britain of 1891, 27l integral families, and of
1,l78 $50 families in state of dissolution by
the premature death Of husband or wife, at
their head The number of widows is 1875 $50.
while of widowers it is less than one half that
figure, namely, 382 969. According to we'll
founded calculations, it appears that to every
100 husbands who have married once in a sta
tionary community, there would be about 33
widowers, and to every 90 wives 40 widows
But the actual proportions are ! widOWers TO
100 husbands, and % widows to 90 wives but
these proportions are Immediately altered by
withdrawing from the ranks Of the married
those who have, at one time, been widowers or
widows. Thus, if of the 346l ,524 wives in
Great Britain, 27l 84l are widows remarked,
3, 1879 $50 wives who have been only once mar
ried will remain; which, when compared with
the widows re married (271 84i) and the
COS 500 widows enumerated, making 067, 43l
in the aggregate, is found to give the proper
ton of 33 Widows to 1 90 wives
As age advances, the proportional numbers
of widows increase At the age Of $50, two
per cent. Of the women are widows; at the age
of 30-35 four per cent. ct the age OF $40,
seven per cent F.; in the next period (40-45
ten per cent. and 30 the proportional numbers
in / 90 increase until at the age of IS the num-
Der OF. widows slightly exceeds the number OF
wives (43 J Of 100 women at the age of 80 and
upwards IS are widows, IL 6 unmarried wom
en-, and only IL wives. The proportional num-
Der of widowers also increases, but at @ much |
less rapid rate, on account chiefly of their fire.
quent re-marriages.
With regard to tho British statistics of mar |
red and unmarried, it appears that, taking the
persons above the legal age of marriage, -four
teen years in the male, and twelve in the fe-
male) who have never married, it will follow
that Grost Britain contains g. 10 243 bachel-
ORE and 3 ,469 243 spins.ers. But if those of
the age Of twenty and under forty years are
called young" and those of the age of forty
and upwards are called cold it will be found
that there are in the kingdom about ,407, 225
"young," and $50 969 cold f" maids; l,413912
"young,u and 275 2OI cold" bachelors. 1t is
a noticeable fact that while there are ,S4S8 53
wives in the second age 20-40, we have
l,407, 225 spinsters returned who are not and
never have been married against l,4l2,9i3
bachelors of the corresponding period OF life.
OF every 100 men in Great Britain Of the age
| of twenty and upwards, 81 are bachelors; while
of every 100 of the other sex, 20 arc spinsters.
In the crowded localities the proportion of I'M
married is much greater than the average,
rising in some of them to between 40 and so
out of each 100 of a eek of the age above men,
toned. The causes for such results are va
rious, but not reconcile Among them may be
mentioned the expensiveness of living In large
cities which discourages marriage among that
class of young men who, though poor, desire to
live in q respectable style. 10 may be estima-
ted that net more than 20 in 100 families are
childless, and consequently that about so In
100 have children living. or 100 widowers
and widows, SO had children, 4 had no chill
dren residing with them. Upon the hypothesis
that as many unmarried women must, other
things being equal, be living irregularly to every
child born out of wedlock as there are wives TO
every child born out of wedlock, then 1876 920
or in 10 Of the unmarried women, must be
living SO as to contribute as much to the births