Appendix: poor laws, Appendix No. IV | British History Online

Journal of the House of Lords: Volume 63, 1830-1831. Originally published by His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, [n.d.].

Citation:

'Appendix: poor laws, Appendix No. IV', in Journal of the House of Lords: Volume 63, 1830-1831( London, [n.d.]), British History Online https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/lords-jrnl/vol63/p705 [accessed 23 December 2024].

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No. IV.-Statements intended to shew the Existence of an Excess of Population in Great Britain, relatively to the Means of Employment, and relatively to the Means of Subsistence. (Delivered in by J. Barton Esquire.)

Table 1.
Population of England and Wales since the Beginning of the last Century, deduced by Mr. Rickman from the Births only.

Years.	Births.	Increase.	Decrease.
1700	5,475,000	-	235,000
1710	5,240,000	-	235,000
1720	5,565,000	325,000	-
1730	5,796,000	231,000	-
1740	6,064,000	268,000	-
1750	6,467,000	6,467,000	-
1760	6,736,000	269,000	-
1770	7,428,000	692,000	-
1780	7,953,000	525,000	-
1790	8,675,000	722,000	-
1801	9,168,000	493,000	-
1811	10,488,000	1,320,000	-
1821	12,085,000	1,597,000	-
Increase of Population in 50 Years, from 1700 to 1750			992,000
	in 50 Years, from 1770 to 1821		4,657,000

Table 2.
Increase of Population since the Beginning of the last Century, deduced from a Comparison of the Births with the Deaths.

Years.	Births.	Deaths.	Proportion.
1700	157,307	137,305	1,146 to 1,000
1710	143,735	145,146	990 to 1,000
1720	159,906	165,956	963 to 1,000
1730	166,514	182,579	912 to 1,000
1740	174,237	172,731	1,009 to 1,000
1750	185,816	160,020	1,161 to 1,000
1760	192,914	161,004	1,198 to 1,000
1770	213,427	180,396	1,183 to l,000
1780	228,361	198,348	1,151 to 1,000
1781-1785	230,311	191,517	1,202 to 1,000
1786-1790	249,116	185,635	1,342 to 1,000
1791-1795	260,143	197,462	1,318 to 1,000
1796-1800	263,408	193,476	1,361 to 1,000
1801-1805	278,353	194,093	1,434 to 1,000
1806-1810	297,428	195,944	1,518 to 1,000
1811-1815	316,996	193,846	1,635 to 1,000
1816-1820	334,017	208,153	1,605 to 1,000

It will be seen from these Statements that our Population has been increasing since the Beginning of the present Century in a Ratio greatly accelerated.

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The following Table will shew that the same Law prevails in the Agricultural Districts taken separately:

Table 3.
Increase of Population in the Ten Agricultural Counties of Bedford, Berks, Buckingham, Cambridge, Essex, Hertford, Huntingdon, Norfolk, Suffolk and Sussex, deduced from the Births only.

Years.	Births.	Average of Five Years.	Births.
1700	28,601	1781-1785	35,316
1710	25,343	1786-1790	38,894
1720	26,585	1791-1795	40,014
1730	28,270	1796-1800	40,689
1740	29,223	1801-1805	44,979
1750	30,765	1806-1810	47,339
1760	31,823
1770	35,654
1780	36,006

Table 4.
Increase of Population as ascertained by actual Enumeration in the Ten Counties most exclusively Agricultural.

COUNTIES.	POPULATION.		Increase per Cent.
COUNTIES.	1811.	1821.	Increase per Cent.
Bedford	72,600	85,400	18
Berks	122,300	134,700	10
Bucks	121,600	136,800	13
Cambridge	104,500	124,400	19
Essex	260,900	295,300	13
Hertford	115,400	132,400	15
Huntingdon	43,700	49,800	14
Norfolk	301,800	351,300	16
Suffolk	242,900	276,000	14
Sussex	196,500	237,700	21
Total	1,582,200	1,823,800 1,582,200	Average 15
Increase in Ten Years		241,600

The Increase of Population in these Ten Counties, during the Fifteen Years from 1815 to 1830, may therefore be safely affirmed to exceed 360,000 Persons. On the other hand, little or no Increase of Tillage seems to have taken place during this Period. I have seen considerable Tracts of Land which were under the Plough in 1815, since planted, and a still greater Extent laid down in permanent Pasture; and even those Fields which continue in Tillage are certainly less carefully and expensively cultivated than formerly. On the whole, there seems Reason to think, that the Demand for Agricultural Labour has not increased in the last Fifteen Years: if so, it seems to follow, as a necessary Consequence, that the Whole of the above-mentioned Increase of 360,000 Persons is in Excess relatively to the Means of Employment, and their Maintenance a dead Loss to the Community. Even this appears a trifling Consideration in comparison of the Extent of Suffering entailed by the same Cause on the whole Body of Agricultural Labourers. This Suffering cannot be alleviated by any Rise of Money Wages, so long as the Number of Hands continues to bear the same Proportion as at present to the Supply of Food; for a Rise of Money Wages would immediately increase in the same Proportion the Demand for Food and other Necessaries, and raise their Price. The Condition of the Poor is therefore ultimately determined by the Proportion between the Increase of Food and the Increase of Population.

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The Inhabitants of Great Britain were found, by Enumeration, to have increased in the Ten Years, from 1811 to 1821, 1,794,828 Persons. Therefore the Increase in Sixteen Years, from 1815 to 1831, may be estimated at Three Millions.

It is well known that in the Year 1816 a Failure of the Harvest took place, which caused a very severe Scarcity. If I am right in supposing that little or no Increase of Cultivation has taken place since that Time, while our Population has increased during the same Period by Three Millions of Persons, it seems to follow, that in the Event of a similar Failure of the Harvest now occurring, we must look for an Extent of Distress and Privation greater than has been witnessed by any living Person.

It is further to be observed, that at the Harvest of 1816 an unusually large Stock of Corn was held over from the Abundance of former Years. This Stock was estimated by Mr. Jacob at no less than 6,150,000 Quarters.-(Second Report, p. 35.) He adds, that "this accumulated Store providentially prevented a dreadful Scarcity, if not a Famine, in the greater Part of 1817." But it is evident that we cannot calculate on a similar Resource, in the Event of another Failure of the Crops.

Mr. Jacob further observes, that "if a great Portion of our necessary Supply should be wanted from Foreign Countries, there is no Probability that it could be furnished without such an Advance of Price as would be enormously heavy. We must look to our own Supply, if not quite exclusively, at least chiefly. It is on the Assiduity and Skill and Economy in Cultivation of our own Agricultural Fellow Subjects that we must depend, for all other Dependence would fail us in the Day of Necessity, whenever that Day shall arrive." p. 40.

In fact, when an Apprehension of Famine exists, the Governments of those Countries from which we draw our principal Supplies of Food are induced by Humanity, or compelled by Fear of popular Tumult, to lay a Prohibition on Export. And the Probability of such Measures yearly increases, because an Increase of Population like that which we experience is taking place over all the Continent of Europe.

It seems to me, therefore, that nothing can save us from Famine or Civil War but an Equalization between the Amount of our Population and the Means of Subsistence. Nor do I see any Possibility of materially increasing our Annual Growth of Corn. Nine Tenths of the Land called Waste is already employed in supplying Manure to the better Soils in the Neighbourhood. If these Wastes were ploughed, the Impoverishment of the neighbouring Lands would more than compensate for the Corn raised on the newly-cultivated Ground; and the remaining Tenth is so sterile that the Annual Growth would be less than the Consumption of the Men and Horses employed on it; so that the Attempt at Cultivation would lessen-instead of increasing our surplus Produce. I am therefore compelled to conclude, that Emigration is our only Resource for guarding against the Evils before named.