Population Growth 1750-1830

In this essay we are going to consider the population growth from 1750-1830. The basis for the material is taken from the "Macmillan Series, Mastering Economic and Social History" written by David Taylor. In his book, Taylor gives several reasons as to why the population increased between 1750-1830. He argues that the practice of living-in disappeared, there was a decline in apprenticeships, and the speenhamland allowance encouraged large families. He also concluded that the general well-being of the people improved though diet. There's no one explanation as to why this happened, or one history. It may have been the fall in the death rate and the increase in the birth rate.

Up to the nineteenth century no official census had taken place. In 1086 the Doomsday book placed the population at about 3.5 million. Attempts were made at counting the population in the seventeenth century by Gregory King a civil servant. Nevertheless, it proved unreliable and was more or less a guesstimate basing his figures on hearth-tax returns and parish records. Taylor states concerning Gregory Kip^i M(ie estimated the number of people living in a house and gradually built up a cumulative total of people of

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A cluster of Lancashire towns

showed tremendous increase. The price of food items rose rapidly bringing hardship to many. It's been estimated that each family could now produce one extra child per household. This meant that either productivity in agriculture had increased through technological advancement or Britain was importing foodstuff from overseas. People gained greater access to cheaper washable cotton, soap was more readily available. There were however dramatic changes in the population from 1750 onwards. Either way, it was now possible to produce more foodstuffs from the same amount of land with less labour. John Rickman (1171-1840) made a study of parish registers which only gave a rough approximation of the population. This enabled farmers to have greater control over their live stock and fresh meat was available during the winter months.

In Conclusion

No historian can be dogmatic and say these are the reasons for a population explosion. The first official census was taken in 1801 and has been conducted every ten years apart from 1941. Not just to marry but have larger families putting an ever greater strain on the economy. Thomas Mathus expressed deep concern over the situation in his Essay on Population "he issued a grim warring to his fellow countrymen when he argued

in convincing terms that, because food supplies increased by arithmetical progression while the population increased by geometric progression, the consequences must be a welter of suffering unless something could be done to check the birth rate". The population was low before 1750 owing to a number of factors.

Approximate Word count = 1549
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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