The Demography of Victorian England and Wales (Cambridge Studies in Population, Economy and Society in Past Time, Series Number 35)

The Demography of Victorian England and Wales describes in detail for the first time the changing population history of England and Wales between 1837 and 1914. Its principal focus is the great demographic revolution that occurred during those years, especially the secular decline of fertility and the origins of the modern rise in life expectancy. It is lavishly illustrated with numerous tables, figures and maps, many of which are reproduced in full color. This clear, comprehensive and engaging reference work makes a seminal contribution to demographic history. Cover......Page 1 Half-title......Page 3 Series-title......Page 4 Title......Page 5 Copyright......Page 6 Dedication......Page 7 Contents......Page 9 Figures......Page 11 Tables......Page 21 Preface......Page 25 1 Bricks without straw, bones without flesh......Page 29 True facts......Page 31 Systems......Page 38 Transitions......Page 43 Time and space......Page 49 2 Vital statistics......Page 59 Contents of the Annual Reports......Page 61 The quality of registration......Page 66 Detection without correction......Page 75 3 Whatever happened to the preventive check?......Page 99 The European marriage pattern in the nineteenth century......Page 100 Nuptiality patterns in England and Wales......Page 109 The effects of urbanisation, migration and occupational specialisation on nuptiality......Page 116 Local studies......Page 123 between pages 96–97......Page 124 The influence of marriage patterns on illegitimate fertility......Page 145 The Victorian marriage pattern and its antecedents......Page 151 4 Family limitation......Page 154 Transition theory......Page 156 Social diffusion......Page 158 Contraceptive revolution?......Page 166 Coale and Trussell: stopping or spacing?......Page 168 Illegitimate fertility......Page 184 Demographic balance......Page 187 Preconditions......Page 188 Empirical relationships......Page 194 Why there are still no firm conclusions......Page 209 Age......Page 214 Farr’s law......Page 234 6 Mortality by occupation and social group......Page 247 The official reporting of occupational mortality in Victorian England......Page 254 Mortality among occupations......Page 258 The social class gradient of male mortality – the interplay of occupational, economic, environmental and selective factors......Page 284 7 The origins of the secular decline of childhood mortality......Page 291 The characteristics of childhood mortality in Victorian England and Wales......Page 294 The childhood mortality problem: contemporary and recent approaches......Page 324 Fertility and infant mortality......Page 339 Poverty, female education, fertility and childhood mortality......Page 344 Some preliminary conclusions......Page 348 8 Places and causes......Page 354 Causes of death......Page 356 Crowding......Page 361 Water......Page 369 Air......Page 375 Phthisis......Page 376 Composite disease environments......Page 385 The McKeown interpretation further confounded......Page 388 9 The demographic consequences of urbanisation......Page 404 10 The transformation of the English and other demographic regimes......Page 425 11 Conclusions and unresolved conundrums......Page 444 Bibliography......Page 455 Index......Page 484 The Demography of Victorian England and Wales uses the full range of nineteenth-century civil registration material to describe in detail for the first time the changing population history of England and Wales between 1837 and 1914. Its principal focus is the great demographic revolution which occurred during those years, especially the secular decline of fertility and the origins of the modern rise in life expectancy. But Robert Woods also considers the variable quality of the Victorian registration system; the changing role of what Robert Malthus termed the preventive check; variations in occupational mortality and the development of the twentieth-century class mortality gradient; and the effects of urbanisation associated with the significance of distinctive disease environments. The volume also illustrates the fundamental importance of geographical variations between urban and rural areas. This invaluable reference tool is lavishly illustrated with numerous tables, figures and maps, many of which are reproduced in full colour. "The Demography of Victorian England and Wales uses the full range of nineteenth-century civil registration material to describe in detail for the first time the changing population history of England and Wales between 1837 and 1914. Its principal focus is the great demographic revolution which occurred during those years, especially the secular decline of fertility and the origins of the modern rise in life expectancy. The volume also illustrates the fundamental importance of geographical variations between urban and rural areas. This invaluable reference tool is generously illustrated with numerous tables and figures, some of the latter being in colour."--Jacket.