Teeming Towns and Crowded Cities : the Scottish Census of 1871
[This article first appeared in the now obsolete Discover My Past Scotland 2008]
By 1871, your urban Scottish ancestors could claim that they lived in one of the most thriving (or, alternatively, one of the most overcrowded) parts of the British Empire. The census, taken on the night of Sunday 2nd April 1871 showed that the population had grown considerably over the previous decade. The historian John McCaffery reports, for instance, that the town of Coatbridge had ‘a density as high as the city of New York.’ Of course, the general trend in Britain up to the 1870s was for larger families and there were some popular role models: Scots-loving monarch Queen Victoria, for instance, had had nine children. But the enormous family groups living in highly cramped conditions in some of Scotland’s cities were of another order altogether. As you discover your ancestors on the 1871 census, you may wonder at the reasons for such a swift and significant increase in numbers.
How can I access the 1871 census?
You can access the 1871 census for Scotland and search for
your ancestors at the following websites. Some of these are free sites, at
others you will have to pay to view the entries.
http://www.uk1871census.com
If you wish to view the original census enumerators’
books, you must visit the General Register Office (Scotland) New Register
House, Edinburgh, EH1, 3YT.
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1. Some Numbers
The 1871 census reported that the population of Scotland was
3,358,613 persons. Of these, 1,601,633 were males, and 1,756,980 were females;
they lived in 742,694 separate families. These numbers represented an increase
in population of approximately ten percent over the previous decade, and
principal and large towns were growing at a rate of well over twenty percent.
A Part of the Whole
After the 1871 census, an effort was made
to compile population statistics for the whole of the Britain. Scotland’s
population went towards the United Kingdom’s impressive total of 31.6 million
inhabitants.
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2. A Booming Economy
One of the reasons for the increased population was the
general rising prosperity of the country and the better opportunities for
employment. The Scottish economy in the mid-Victorian era was based on heavy
industry (iron and steel manufacture that also produced a range of engineering
products). Exports went all over the world and it wouldn’t be long before
Glasgow would become known as the ‘second city of the Empire.’ As the railway
network spread throughout the country, a ‘continuous urban sprawl’ developed
across the central belt.’ In this thriving economy, larger families meant more
workers able to bring in more money. For more on the occupations of your
Scots ancestor, visit
http://www.ancestralscotland.com/research-your-roots/working-men-and-women/
3. They Didn’t Want To Leave
Another reason for the larger population in 1871 was the
fact that fewer people were emigrating. Life in the homeland was looking more
attractive and, between 1861 and 1871, only 157,838 natives of Scotland
emigrated from the ports of the United Kingdom to places such as Canada,
America and Australia. This was nearly thirty thousand fewer people than had
emigrated in the previous ten years.
4. They Came From Afar
Look carefully at the birthplaces of your family members on
the census. Many people moved to the Scottish cities from Ireland. In addition,
Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, Greenock and Ayr saw an influx of Jews
from the Russian Empire and Lithuania. Few immigration records into Scotland
exist before 1878 (when passenger lists are available). To trace their journeys
to the UK, you may have to search the emigration lists from your ancestor’s
point of departure. For more on records associated with Scottish emigration and
immigration see: https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Scotland_Emigration_and_Immigration#Immigration_into_Scotland
5. Simply More Babies
Large families were, of course, a natural consequence of the
lack of any foolproof methods of contraception in the last decades of the
nineteenth century. Couples who wanted to limit their family size may have used
the methods of abstinence, prolonged lactation (breastfeeding) and coitus
interruptus (the withdrawal method). None of these, of course, provided
certain protection against pregnancy. Condoms made from animal intestines had
been available from at least the early eighteenth century and, after 1843,
these were replaced with sheaths made from vulcanised rubber. There were also
rubber cervical caps, syringes and soluble pessaries – but the majority of
people probably didn’t use them. In tandem with poor contraception, certain
improvements in public health – the building of wash houses and better
provision of water supplies - meant that
fewer babies were dying in infancy than earlier in the century.
As a result of all these factors, families of more than ten
children were commonplace in the 1871 Scottish census. The following points may
help you understand just how and where your large family of ancestors actually
lived.
6. One room or
two?
The 1871 census
(like its predecessor) asked about the number of rooms in dwelling places with
one or more windows. This information can be helpful in giving you an idea of
the spatial dimensions of your ancestor’s home. In cities like Edinburgh and
Glasgow, there were two types of working-class housing; the ‘made down houses'
- former middle class homes where each room might house an entire family - and
traditional tenements, often without running water or sanitation. In 1871, a
quarter of the population lived in single-ends (one room houses). These were
tiny; in Edinburgh they measured on average 14 feet by 11.5 feet. In the
Canongate, Tron, St Giles and Grassmarket areas of Edinburgh, up to 15 people
could be found living in one room although the average was five. 38% of the population
lived in a room and kitchen (two-room houses). In all, 54% of the population
lived more than two to a room.
7. Boarders
and Lodgers
You may find that
on the 1871 census your ancestor is no longer in the family home but residing
in one of the many lodging houses that sprang up in the poorer areas of the
cities. Nineteenth-century lodgers were of many types. The vast majority were young men who may have
moved to the industrial centres from rural areas to take up seasonal work. They
included railway workers, navvies and builders who were taking part in the
great processes of Victorian city construction. Lodgers also increasingly came
from the aspiring lower-middle and professional classes and included shop
assistants, clerks, accountants, and trainee clerics. In addition, a fair
number of females in trades such as dressmaking (sometimes a euphemism for
prostitution) also lodged.
Example: In 1871, thirty year old David Cameron was
a street hawker who shared a lodging house in the Grassmarket area of
Edinburgh with ten others plus the family of four who owned the lodging
house. His fellow lodgers, who ranged in age from 19 to 55, were variously,
other street hawkers, a labourer, a shoemaker, a porter, a tailoress, and a
millworker and they came from Ireland, Dundee and other parts of Edinburgh.
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One of the main and most obvious reasons for lodging was the
fact that, in the absence of other forms of transport such as trams, buses and
bicycles, people had to walk to work. Workers may have lodged on a weekly basis
returning home at the weekends, or may have lodged seasonally, moving on when
their contracts finished. Enumerators were encouraged to record only those
lodgers who boarded (i.e. who had their meals provided) as part of the
household. Those who made their own food (‘look[ed] to the supply of [their]
own victuals’) were to be categorised as separate householders, even if they
shared the same accommodation. Obviously, the potential for confusion on the
census forms was enormous.
8. Out of the Slums
If your ancestor was very poor, don’t be surprised to find
that he or she had moved to a different part of their home city between the
1861 and 1871 censuses. By means of
their own Improvement Acts, the two major Scottish cities had undertaken slum
clearance programmes during that decade - Glasgow in 1866 and Edinburgh in
1867. Between 1867 and 1877, 30,000 people in Glasgow and 3,000 in Edinburgh
were forced to ‘flit’ in this way. The official thinking behind this now seems
outdated and unjust – it was felt that the respectable poor would succeed in
finding better accommodation, whilst only those who were inadequate – and
therefore undeserving - would end up in worse accommodation.
9. Vessels,
Gaols, Barracks et al
If your ancestor
was not at home on the night of April 2nd 1871, don’t despair – you might still
find him or her on the census. Customs officers and (in the case of the Navy)
the Admiralty were requested to collect information on the seamen on board
vessels in Scottish harbours or waters. (NB: The men aboard Scottish vessels in
foreign ports and at sea and others on Scottish vessels in English, Irish or
colonial ports were not included). In gaols, military barracks, workhouses,
hospitals and other public institutions where more than 135 people resided, the
masters of the institution (rather than the ordinary census enumerators) were
responsible for collecting information for the census.
10. An Emptying Countryside
Of course many areas of Scotland remained sparsely populated
in 1871. Rural villages of between 2,000 and 3,000 inhabitants had increased at
the low rate of only 1.32 % and in the truly outlying regions the population
remained stationary or, in fact, decreased. To get an idea of exactly where
your Scottish ancestors lived visit www.nls./uk/maps
With such an increased population, the job of the Scottish
census enumerators was getting more onerous. Their pay in 1871 for collecting
information on up to 400 people was just one pound and one shilling – something
of an improvement on previous years, but no great riches. There was, however,
an unexpected bonus for those enumerators of the burgeoning inner cities. For
every additional 100 people enumerated, they received an extra two shillings
and sixpence!
Useful Websites
http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/census/report_page.jsp?rpt_id=S1871PRE&show=DB
- Tables of information relating to the 1871 Scottish census
http://www.ancestralscotland.com/research-your-roots/working-men-and-women/
For information on where your Scottish ancestors may have worked.
www.archive.scotsman.com Articles from the Scotsman newspaper from
1817-1950 including several on the 1871 census and its results.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Scotland - a history of the Jews in Scotland.
https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Scotland_Emigration_and_Immigration#Immigration_into_Scotland Information on emigration and immigration out
of and into Scotland.
Useful Books
McCaffrey, John, Scotland in the
Nineteenth Century, Macmillan, 1998
Lindsay, Maurice, Victorian and
Edwardian Glasgow, Batsford, 1987
Minto, Charles Sinclair, Victorian
and Edwardian Edinburgh from Old Photographs, Batsford, 1989
Whately, Miskell, Louise, and MOR, Victorian
Dundee: Image and Realities, Tuckwell, 2002
Keywords: European ancestors, genealogy, family history, Scotland, Scottish, census
Keywords: European ancestors, genealogy, family history, Scotland, Scottish, census
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