The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-10-31
THE ENGLISH CENSUS SYSTEM.


of ftbepeopleof of Philadelphia will naturally excite
curiosity as to the census machinery of Great
Britain, which enjoys such high reputation for
efficiency. The United States was the first
country in which q systematic attempt was
made to ascertain the number of inhabitants,
q regular decennial enumei alton of the people
being provided for in the Constitution as
originally adopted, and the first census
taken in $780, Immediately after the machinery
of the new form of government was put in mo-
tion.
In Great Britain the first regular census taken
was in 1901. The population previous to that
time was much in dispute until 1886, when an
examination of the parish registers of births,
marriages, and deaths was made by the clergy,
the inquiry in some instances being extended
as far back as 1870. On the supposition that
the births, marriages, and deaths bore the same
proportion to the total population before as
after that date, an estimate of the aggregate
population of England and Wales was made on
this basis for various dates between 1870 and
1850 and these estimates form the most authen-
tic clue extant to the population of the country
previous to the opening of the present century.
The census taken in 1901 included the number
of persons in each parish of the kingdom, dis
tin2uished by sex but not by age, the number
of inhabited houses and families tenanting
them, the number of uninhabited houses, and
some indefinite and unsatisfactory inquiries as
to the occupations of the people.
In the second census-that of 1S11-the same
facts were elected, except that, instead of at
tempting to ascertain the occupation of each
person, the number of families chiefly supported
by certain occupations was taken.
In 1921 the ages were ascertained for the
first time, classified by five years under twenty
and by ten over that age.
In 1881 many improvements were introduced in
the census system, with respect to ascertaining
the occupations of the people, the whole num-
ber of occupations retarned being 59S. The
area of each parish and township was also
taken this year, for the first time. Up to this
date, the enumerations were superintended by
Mr.. Hickman, clerk of the House of Commons,
the labor being performed by the overseers of
the poor in England and Wales, and by the
parochial schoolmasters in Scotland.
In 1s41 the work of enumeration was trans
ferred to the officers of the Registrar General
of births, marriages, and deaths, England and
Wales being divided into about 35 900 different
enumeration districts, each with not less than
25 nor more than 200 inhabitants, SO that the
enumeration Of each district was easily COM
pleted in single day. The exact age and en-
ployment of every person were taken, and also
the number born in and out of the county in
which they resided, or abroad.
In 1851 still further improvements were
effected, inquiries being extended to the marital
and family relationships, the number of blind
and deaf and dumb, and the statistics of reli-
gious and educational institutions. Under the
Registrar General of births, marriages, aud
deaths-an office which had long been in exist
ence in England and Wales-there were at that
local registrars. The latter divided their dis
trcts into 3O,6 ,610 bdstricts, with an enume-
rator to each. There being at that time no
registration system in Scotland the emu
meration in that country was made
by the sheriffs, schoolmasters etc., the
number of enumeration districts being
1878, making 3S,740 districts altogether,
with as many different enumerators, to an
aggregate population of 2O,Sl6,351 In the
United States the number of enumerators in
1860 was 4417, to a population of 81, AS, OSO-
an average of 7119 inhabitants to each, while in
1851 the average in Great Britain was but 537
inhabitants to each enumerator. Hence, while
in the United States the enumeration is pro-
tracted through an almost indefinite period, in
Great Britain it is completed in single day,
and degree of accuracy is attainable which is
altogether out of the question under the loose
fected English system which was
put in practice in Great Britain in
1851 a schedule was given to every
oecupier of a house or tenement, in the course
of the week preceding the 3lst of March, and
every person to whom such schedule was de-
livered was required by act of Parliament, under
penalty for wilful default, to fill it up with
all the information required. On the 3lst OF
March each enumerator visited every house in
his district allowing five persons to family,
the average number of houses to a district was
but 107-and collected the schedules which he
was required to correct when defective or appa-
rently inaccurate, and fill up when returned to
him blank. The enumerator was directed to
ascertain carefully that no person was omitted
from the schedule who slept in the
house on the previous night, and that no person
who was then absent was included. In some
cases, this course would not have resulted in
securing the actual population of a particular
district but in all such cases the enGmerator
was required to make an estimate of the num-
ber of persons only temporarily absent from
their usual place of abode or temporarily in the
house in which they were found to have slept
on the night of March 80, to accompany the
published statements as comments, and also to
estimate the number of persons who had slept
in the open air or in other unusual places, on
the same night. Special schedules were also
prepared for sea-going persons in all capacities.
The whole task was thus elaborately laid out,
and effectively and accurately performed within
single day, and by the 9TH of June the aggre-
gate result in the whole kingdom was ready for
publication.