Occupations of the People

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III. OCCUPATIONS OF THE PEOPLE.

1. Classification of Occupations.

Occupations

The number of a nation is limited by its organization in professions, trades, and industries. Without government, without defence, without the sciences, without literature and the arts, without tools, without dwellings, without agriculture, without commerce, without roads, without ships, without mines, without all the complicated mechanism of industry, society would cease to exist, and men would lose their highest prerogatives.

The subject is extensive and full of details. Thousands of occupations have recog nized names; and the slightest consideration shows that without any higher philosophic aim at completion, the whole population must be classified in a convenient form for reference.

This has been done in an elaborate series of tables,1 which show how remarkably every branch of industry is shooting out in new directions and giving rise to new employments. The tables require exhaustive study in connection with special inquiries into the industrial organization of the country, which, as yet only imperfectly understood, is the subject of conflicting theories. The co-operative societies, the companies with limited liability, the question of the employment of women, the regulation of children's work, trades unions, the federation of employers, the continual developments and displacements of branches of trade in different localities, amidst an increasing population, which derives food and the raw materials of manufactures partly from home produce and partly from foreign countries at one time friendly at another time hostile, are all reasons for collecting full and exact information on a subject of such unquestionable importance. The Census can deal with an essential part of the question. It can ask the heads of families to return, in conformity with instructions, the profession or occupation of every person in their houses on the Census night. And that has been done bettor, we believe, than it had ever been done before; but still leaving imperfections, some of which, in passing, will be pointed out, as they are capable of being cleared up by further inquiries.

Inquiry in 1801

In 1801, at the first Census, this branch of inquiry was very simple. The total population of England and Wales, exclusive of army, navy, and merchant seamen, was simply classed under three heads, after excluding 443,235 not returned as of any occupation; namely, 1,713,289 persons chiefly employed in agriculture; 1,843,353 persons chiefly employed in trade, manufacture, or handicraft; and 4,873,103 persons not employed in either of the preceding ways, including probably children and indefinite numbers of women.

Inquiries in 1811-21-31

In 1811-21-31 for persons families were substituted: thus in 1821 it appeared that 847,957 families were returned as chiefly employed in agriculture, 1,159,975 as chiefly employed in trade, manufacture, or handicraft, and 485,491 as not comprised in either of the two great classes. In 1831 a further, important step was taken in the right direction; the defective character of the classification by families grew evident; so the several occupations of males of 20 years of age and upwards employed in retail trade or in handicraft, as masters or workmen, were separately returned.

Inquiry in 1841

In 1841 the name, age, sex, &c., and occupation, were returned as "each man's inquiry in description of himself," and the results were published in Alphabetical Tables, with a synopsis under a few heads, showing the number of males and females under 20 and above 20 years of age.

Extension of inquiries in 1851-61-71

In 1851 special instructions were given to the enumerators; these wore extended Extension of again in 1861 and 1871, so as to guard against mistakes and vagueness; and in the three Reports the two sexes have been classified under their respective occupations, with distinctions of age.

Classification

The classification by families is of some use in simple populations, where labour is not much divided; but in England the members of the same family,—the husband, wife, and children—are often engaged in different occupations, even when the children are at home. Our classification is in principle a classification of each individual under his principal occupation on the Census day . The distinction of ago enables us to compare the number living in each well-defined occupation with the number dying registered at the corresponding ages; and thus to determine the influence of employment on health and life. The age is important in another way, as showing whether the persons employed in any particular manufacture, or trade, or profession, are children, young men or old; and hy the relative numbers at early or advanced ages, at what period professions are entered, or whether they are increasing or decreasing. It thus increases the value of the return of occupations tenfold; yet, singularly enough, England is the only country where this attempt at a complete classification of the population according to occupations and age has "been carried into effect. This is probably in part due to the mechanical difficulties of the analysis, which can only be executed adequately by a number of well-trained clerks. In France the population was for some time classed in large groups, as formerly in England, showing the number of individuals living directly or indirectly by the several professions. This is no doubt an interesting view of a population, but to carry it out would be a matter of no ordinary difficulty in England, where it would not be easy for either man or woman to return the precise number of individuals living on his professional earnings. And there would necessarily be many men, women, and children living on the earnings of more than one individual of more than one profession; so that they would often be returned twice.

Occupation returns in France

Interesting as this information might be, if it could be obtained with tolerable accuracy, it is of infinitely less value than a return of the individuals in each separate occupation. Thus, in the return in question, the force of the army would not be shown, inasmuch as the wives and children would be confounded with the occupation soldiers and officers on whom the country relies for its defence. This defect has been felt in France, and in the last Census the persons directly engaged in the several professions are distinguished from their so-called families.2 But to obtain this information the ages of the people in the several professions have to be sacrificed.

The 290 professions distinguished in France, or, as they are called by us, occupations, are classed in 50 groups, and in 8 grand divisions.3 The industrial Census of France is well worthy of imitation; but that, though closely connected with the Census, is a different inquiry.

At the St. Petersburgh Statistical Congress a very good classification of industrial products was proposed by Professor Andréef;4 and Dr. Engel has discussed the subject in his able paper on the Reform of Industrial Statistics, where lie has also given a summary of other classifications.

But ours is a classification of men according to their rank, profession, or occupation, and this fixes the basis on which it has to be made; for it happens that though the two classifications touch each other in some parts, they differ fundamentally in others. In any hierarchical classification, the sovereigns, the leaders of men, the government, the army, the navy, the professions, must all have a place; but the products of their work could not be displayed in any classification of an industrial exhibition. A classification of population by professions, in which the highest professions find no fitting place, is an absurdity.

Classification of 1871

The classification we have used has been to some extent explained in the Report of 1851, and still further by Dr. Parr in the Appendix to the Census Report of 1861.5 We shall attach an outline sketch of the nature of the classes, and then briefly call attention to some of the particulars in the tables; which are among the most interesting results of the Census. The whole series is well worthy of the study of statists, who will know how to interpret the facts. They will bear in mind all through the Tables that persons often follow more than one trade or profession, and only appear in these tables under one of them. That applies especially to peers, members of Parliament, magistrates, and persons of high rank, who have sometimes returned themselves as landed proprietors, heads of manufactories and commercial firms, or as persons engaged in. some of the learned professions. Fortunately, the exact numbers of these important persons can be obtained from other sources.

2. The Classes, Orders, and Sub-Orders of the Abstracts.

Professional Class

I.—PROFESSIONAL CLASS. (Orders 1, 2, 3.) The three Orders of this Class consist of civil servants, national or local; the army and navy; the learned professions, with their immediate subordinates; literary and scientific men, as well as artists in the widest sense.

The army and navy are in the service of the Government; and are intimately connected with it in all states. And the clergy in the Established Church, as well as the lawyers in the courts of justice, are in official subordination to the Sovereign; but the great majority of the members of these professions are neither nominated nor paid by the Crown. Like the medical, the literary, and the scientific professions, which were at one time included in the Church, and were supported by its livings, the clergy and lawyers assert their independence, and are therefore made separate Sub-orders. So are authors, artists, musicians, actors, teachers, and scientific men. Nearly all the members of the class are paid directly for their services; and these services are direct, being rarely fixed in any commodity. The pay varies in each Order, and it is either proportional to the time (salaries, wages, pay), the job (fees), or the quality and quantity of work done (piecework).

The Professional Class has arranged in it 684,102 persons, and comprises in the First Order 106,286 engaged in the general or local government of the country; in the Second Order the army and navy at home, 136,491; and in the Third Order the liberal professions, reckoning among them literature, science, and the fine arts, 441,325.

The army

Complete returns for the British army have been supplied by His Royal Highness the Commander in Chief, and they show a strength of 193,607: officers 9,838, and men 183,769. Of this total, 74,595 were in England and Wales, 106,074 in the United Kingdom, 24,163 in the Colonies, 60,518 in India, 1,921 in China, and 931 on passage out or home.

Conjugal condition of the army and navy

The conjugal condition of the army differs very much from that of other professions. Proportionally, more officers than soldiers are married, yet the proportion of husbands is less among them than it is among the general population, at the earlier ages.

CONJUGAL CONDITION of the ARMY and NAVY.

Age. Proportion Married to 100 at each Age from 20 to 50. Married Men
in 100
of General
Population.
Married Officers in 100. Married Men in 100.
Army. Navy. Army. Navy.
20-25 3 4 2 10 23
25-30 16 19 11 38 60
30-35 38 50 25 61 75
35-40 57 71 37 72 82
40-45 68 77 43 78 83
45-50 75 82 64 84 84
Thus to 100 officiers in the Army at the age of 30 and under 35, thirty-eight are married; to 100 officiers in the Navy, fifty are married; the proportions of men in the Army and Navy married to 100 at age 30-35, are respectively twenty-five and sixty-one .

The proportion of marred officers in the navy at the early ages is also low; so that probably neither service is self-sustaining. They are as regards matrimony in the condition of the Roman citizens under Augustus: this is partly due to their duties taking them from home, and partly to the low rate of pay. The sons of the clergy and of the other civil classes supply the officers of the army and navy with recruits; it is for the Legislature to decide on the wisdom of this policy, or of the degree of weight to be attached to the dictum expressed by Horace: Fortes creantur fortibus . In the middle ages the clergy lived, in the present clay our military officers live, in a state of celibacy: the church and the army have changed places in respect to population.

Clergymen

Of the clergy and church officers 44,562 were returned; 20,694 as clergymen, 9,264 as Protestant ministers, and 1,620 as Roman Catholic priests.

In the interval between the last two Censuses there was a greater proportional increase of Protestant ministers not of the Church, and of Roman Catholic priests and dignitaries, than of the clergymen of the Church, according to their own returns.

Lawyers, Doctors

Among the lawyers 3,580 barristers and 12,314 solicitors, numbers exceeding those of 1861, are specified. Medical men remained nearly stationary: the qualification having been much raised.

Literature, science, and art

The numbers returned as authors, editors, public writers, journalists, have increased; and so have actors. There is a large increase of civil engineers. Artists have not increased much; but photographers from 2,366 became in ten years 4,021.

There is no considerable increase of the higher classes of the liberal and learned professions.

Domestic Class

II.—DOMESTIC CLASS. (Orders 4 and 5.) The persons in this class are all employed, if they are employed at all, in houses. Some supply simply service, others with it supply board and lodging. They are paid wages (servants), or they are paid for the board and lodging and attendance which they supply. The publicans and beer-sellers are so much associated, and so often confounded with hotel and inn-keepers, that they are retained in the same Order; although the Order dealing in "drinks" may claim them. "Wives perform at home for the bulk of the population the same kind of duties as persons in Order 5 perform, but they are not paid directly in money for their services, as they form a part of the natural family, and consequently they are distinguished in a separate Order (4).

Wives

The Fourth Order consists entirely of women; it embraces the majority of the wives. women engaged in the most useful of all occupations, that of wife, mother, and mistress of a family. It includes also daughters of 15 and upwards at home, but it does not include wives of any specified occupation other than that of wife. The numbers thus defined are 4,271,657, of whom 4,014,044 are of the ages 20 and upwards.

Occupations of women in 1851 and 1871

As girls and women of all ages now constitute more than half of the population of England, their occupations are of vital importance. 3,948,527 are wives, and a large proportion of them are mothers. This is a noble and essential occupation, as on it as much as on the husband's labour and watchfulness depend the existence and character of the English race. But in all stages of human progress, women have had, besides these, other employments; among savages they perform the most laborious work; and in Europe now they are seen burdened and toiling in the fields, as women were once found toiling underground in English mines. Engaged in spinning and weaving in the heroic times, in cookery and surgery in the age of chivalry, their employments are now becoming infinitely diversified; a married woman of industry and talent aids her husband in his special occupation, or she follows different lines of her own; even when she has children this is possible, for it is only in a few cases that the whole of a wife's lifetime is filled up with childbearing, nursing, and housekeeping. "Women unmarried, always exist in great numbers and will continue to exist at all ages, who devote themselves to works of utility or charity, and to the arts, for which they have a taste, in which they often display extraordinary talent, and for which they get as well remunerated as men. In literature and song women have always excelled. There are certain walks of athletic life from which women are inflexibly excluded; whether with advantage, without drawbacks, it is difficult to say, as many of the finest children are produced by hard-working women. They are also excluded wholly or in great part from the church, the law, and medicine; whether they should be rigidly excluded from these professions, or be allowed—on the principle of freedom of trade—to compete with men, is one of the questions of the day.

The facts of the Census will afford inquirers some help; they show that without counting wives so returned at all, the number of women of the age of 15 and upwards engaged in specific occupations, and no doubt earning wages or profits of some kind, were 3,453,681. The number so returned at corresponding ages in 1851, were 2,652,660.

The increase in 20 years was 801,021; it was at the rate of 30 per cent., or 1.33 per cent. annually. This exceeds the rate of increase among the residue, which was only 1.05 per cent. annually. Thus, noiselessly, there has been a rapid increase in the numbers and the proportion of women engaged specifically in productive work. Add the wives and the proportion so employed will be little less than the proportion of mew. There is no evidence of the increase of idle women.

Should the emigration of women keep pace in future with the emigration of men to the healthy colonies, their education must be directed so as to suit the circumstances of country and colonial life.

We commenced the analysis of the occupations of women in the hope of being able to show the occupations of married and single women separately, but the labour was so great, and retarded so much the general progress of the work, that we were obliged, reluctantly, to abandon it.

WOMEN of SPECIFIC OCCUPATIONS at different ages in 1851 and 1871, exclusive of
(a) Wives and others engaged in Household Duties, and (b) of Scholars

AGES. 1851. 1871.
All Ages 2,856,576 3,710,305
     
Under 5 Years 0 3
5— 14,939 9,929
10— 188,977 246,692
15— 561,029 762,222
20— 515,162 631,475
25— 590,662 707,823
35— 372,578 486,598
45— 283,263 397,746
55— 194,650 276,485
65— 101,538 145,689
75 and upwards 33,778 45,643
* More of this age are scholars in 1871 than in 1851.

Hotel, inn, lodging-house keepers

The Fifth Order comprises 244,728 males, of whom 200,220 are men of 20 years of age and upwards; including 60,256 hotel or inn-keepers and publicans, 13,103 beersellers, 3,824 lodging and boarding-house keepers, 3,114 coffee-house and eating-house keepers, and 4,466 in the service of institutions. This Order also comprises 1,388,786 females: of whom 901,606 are 20 years of age and upwards, including 15,552 hotel-keepers and publicans, 3,086 beersellers, 21,819 lodging-house and boarding-house keepers, 1,921 coffee and eating-house keepers, and 8,067 in the service of institutions.

Domestic servants

In this Order (5) are also included the whole of the domestic servants of England and Wales, with a few others, 1,494,411 in number; 157,877 men, and 1,336,534 women.

Of the men 68,369 are described simply as servants, 16,174 as coachmen, 21,202 as grooms, 18,688 as gardeners, 28,538 as inn and hotel servants. The age at which the greatest number is returned, is a central point round which the other ages gravitate. The central age of the coachmen is 25-45, of the grooms 15-25, of the gardeners 20-45, of the inn servants 15-35.

Of the women 780,040 are simply described as servants or general servants, pretty equally divided by the twentieth year of age; 140,836 are housekeepers, of whom 45 is the central age; 93,067 are cooks, with 30 for central age; 110,505 housemaids, with 15-25 as the central age; and 75,491 nurses, with 15-20 as their central age. The 20,537 inn and hotel servants have 20-25 as their central age.

There are 28,417 nurses, not domestic servants, with the age 55-65 as that at which the greatest number are living. The charwomen are 77,650; and ladies' companions 2,901.

The number of domestic servants was first returned in 1831, and it may be interesting to show how their numbers have increased in 40 years, as they prove to a certain extent how much the families able to keep servants have increased. It will be noticed in the table subjoined that the male servants became half as many again, and that the female servants doubled, or rather increased by 118 per cent. The increase has been greatest in the last 10 years, and the female servants now amount to 1,225,014. Wives and daughters at home do now less domestic work than then- predecessors: hence the excessive demand for female servants and the consequent rise of wages.

NUMBER of DOMESTIC SERVANTS (so returned) at FIVE CENSUSES.

Census Years. MALES. FEMALES.
1831 104,730 560,979
1841 ? 765,165
1851 124,595 783,543
1861 134,443 976,931
1871 152,971 1,225,014
The return of Male Servants for 1841 as it was evidently made upon a principle different from that which was adopted at each of the other Censuses.

Commercial Class

III.—COMMERCIAL CLASS. (Orders 6 and 7.) The merchant buys tea in China, transports it to England, and there sells it. As a merchant he effects no change in any of the commodities in which he deals. He simply buys as cheaply and sells as dearly as he can; and is thus paid for his services by a varying but rated profit on the goods. The carrying Order convey commodities, passengers, and messages by land or water, from one place to another. They also warehouse goods. They are paid for their services in fares, freight, and charges, which bear some proportion to the weight, bulk, and other properties of the goods. They are all in Order 7, and are closely related to the order preceding; hence the two orders (6-7) together may be called the commercial class.

This well-defined Class, 815,424 in number, consists chiefly of men; 602,649 are men of the age of 20 and upwards.

Mercantile Persons

The Sixth Order , numbering 287,164 persons, has the banker, the merchant, the broker, and the tradesman for its types; but it includes all their subordinates, and descends to the perambulating hawker and pedlar. Of the women in this Order the majority are capitalists, shareholders, shopkeepers, hawkers, pedlars, saleswomen, and commercial clerks.

Conveyance Order

The Seventh Order is numerous, and consists almost entirely of males. Of the 528,260, all engaged directly in the transport service, 515,849 are males, of whom 84,625 are engaged on the railways, 122,296 on roads, 32,823 on canals and rivers, 140,949 on seas and rivers, including shipowners, dock servants, sea-navigation servants, and all the seamen in the merchant service on shore. To make the numbers of seamen in the sea service complete, 99,868 afloat in vessels at home and abroad must be added to the above numbers enumerated onshore.6 38,150 men are engaged in storage, and 97,006 as messengers and porters, including 58,791 boys under 20. There are 1,408 boys under 20 and 1,302 men aged 20 and upwards, in the service of telegraph companies.

In the last 10 years there has been in the commercial class a great increase of auctioneers and house agents, of accountants, of commercial clerks, of commercial travellers, (10,754 to 17,895,) of pawnbrokers, of railway servants, of the coach and cab service; of carriers in the canal and inland navigation service there is a decrease, as the railways tend to supersede water carriage; seamen and pilots at home have not increased, but they do more work in steam than they formerly did in sailing vessels. There is a great increase of warehousemen and of messengers and porters, in fact, in the whole of the transport service of the country. And it must be borne in mind that the same number of men, with the present means of transport, do an indefinite amount more work than an equivalent number of their predecessors.

The telegraph service is new, and it is now absorbed largely in the post office, so its increase is not shown in the table.

Agricultural Class

IV.—AGRICULTURAL CLASS. (Orders 8 and 9.) We now come to a great class which is employed in producing grain, fruit, grass, animals, and other products from the soil. They may be called growers; for their products grow, and are obtained from the living kingdoms of nature. The heads of the class are paid, not directly for their services, but indirectly in the price of the products which they sell in the market or elsewhere. Thus the price of a quarter of wheat includes the pay of the services of all the persons employed in its production and the cost of the acquisition of the tools and machines, including the lands, by means of which it is produced and brought to market. Agricultural servants and labourers are paid in wages, which the farmers advance. The persons engaged in gardens or woods are in separate Sub-orders. The men in Order 9 are employed in catching, training, or dealing in living animals of various kinds. They are the representatives of the hunters of the early stages of life, and may be considered an appendage to the previous pastoral and agricultural class.

The 1,657,138 returned as directly engaged in this Class are chiefly men; but they include 186,696 women.

Farmers

The Eighth Order has on its roll 1,372,942 males, of whom 288,760 are under 20, 1,084,182 are 20 years of age and upwards. 14,191 are landed proprietors, but this is exclusive of those who are returned in professions or under other heads. Arrangements were made with a view to obtain a correct return of the number of landed proprietors, and a list was commenced, but it was laid aside when it was found that Her Majesty's Government had instituted a special inquiry into the subject. 225,569 are farmers or graziers, 76,466 are farmers' sons, grandsons, brothers, or nephews, 16,476 are farm bailiffs, 764,574 are agricultural labourers, 23,323 shepherds (out-door), 134,157 farm servants (in-door). The founders of the new business of agricultural machine proprietor and attendant have sprung up from 1,441 in 1861 to 2,152 in 1871, The number of farmers and graziers has somewhat decreased, farm bailiffs have increased, and there has been a noticeable decrease of in-door farm servants traceable since the census of 1851.

ENGLAND.— FARMERS and their HOLDINGS in 17 representative Counties of England; viz., Norfolk, Leicester, Rutland, Lincoln, Nottingham, Derby, Surrey (extra- Metropolitan), Kent (extra- Metropoltian), Sussex, Hants, Berks, Essex, Suffolk, Durham, Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmorland.

Number of Acres belonging to each Farm. Farmers holding the Number of Acres in Col.1. Aggregate Number of Farmers, each having not less than the Acreage specified in Col.1. against the Number. Number of Acres by the Farmers in Cols. 2 and 3. Number of Acres held by the Farmers in Cols. 4 and 5. Number of Acres belonging to each Farm.
1851. 1871. 1851. 1871. 1851. 1871. 1851. 1871.
(Col. 1.) (2.) (3.) (4.) (5.) (6.) (7.) (8.) (9.)  
Under 5 acres 2,047 1,984 * 68,635 * 59,870 6,141 5,952 9,469,734 9,088,193 Under 5 acres.
5— 4,160 4,017 66,588 57,886 31,200 30,128 9,463,593 9,082,241 5—
10— 4,160 6,074 62,428 53,869 101,010 91,110 9,432,393 9,052,113 10—
20— 4,943 4,193 55,694 47,795 123,575 104,825 9,331,383 8,961,003 20—
30— 4,126 3,363 50,751 43,602 144,410 117,705 9,207,808 8,856,178 30—
40— 3,678 3,048 46,625 40,239 165,510 137,160 9,063,398 8,738,473 40—
                   
50— 8,253 6,370 42,947 37,191 515,813 398,125 8,897,888 8,601,313 50—
75— 5,198 4,113 34,694 30,821 454,825 359,888 8,382,075 8,203,188 75—
100— 9,145 7,341 29,496 26,708 1,143,125 917,625 7,927,250 7,843,300 100—
150— 5,650 4,706 20,351 19,367 988,750 823,550 6,784,125 6,925,675 150—
200— 4,459 3,927 14,701 14,661 1,003,275 883,575 5,795,375 6,102,125 200—
250— 2,471 2,324 10,242 10,734 679,525 639,100 4,792,100 5,218,550 250—
                   
300— 2,186 2,226 7,771 8,410 710,450 723,450 4,112,575 4,579,450 300—
350— 1,127 1,166 5,585 6,184 422,625 437,250 3,402,125 3,856,000 350—
400— 1,703 1,824 4,458 5,018 766,350 820,800 2,979,500 3,418,750 400—
500— 1,006 1,098 2,755 3,194 553,300 603,900 2,213,150 2,597,950 500—
600— 567 666 1,749 2,096 368,550 432,900 1,659,850 1,994,050 600—
700— 319 390 1,182 1,430 239,250 292,500 1,291,300 1,561,150 700—
                   
800— 243 270 863 1,040 206,550 229,500 1,052,050 1,268,650 800—
900— 128 188 620 770 121,600 178,600 845,500 1,039,150 900—
1000— 206 249 492 582 226,600 273,900 723,900 860,550 1000—
1200— 128 159 286 333 172,800 214,650 497,300 586,650 1200—
1500— 94 84 158 174 164,500 147,000 324,500 372,000 1500—
2000 and upwards 64 90 64 90 160,000 225,000 160,000 225,000 2000 and upwards
* In addition to the 68,635 Farms in 1851 and 59,870 in 1871, there were 714 in 1851 and 892 in 1871 from which no Return of Acreage has been recieved, and which will make the total number of Farms in these 17 representative counties 69,349 in 1851 and 60,762 in 1871. The Table may be read thus; in 1851, 8,253 Farmers held Farms of 50 and less than 75 acres, covering in the aggregate 515,813 acres. In 1871 6,370 Farmers held Farms of 50 and of less than 75 acres, covering in the aggregate 398,125 acres.
Under 100 acres 39,139 38,162 68,635 59,870 1,542,484 1,244,803 9,469,734 9,088,193 Under 100 acres
100— 14,795 12,047 29,496 26,708 2,131,875 1,741,175 7,927,250 7,843,300 100—
200— 6,930 6,251 14,701 14,661 1,632,800 1,522,675 5,795,375 6,102,125 200—
300— 3,313 3,392 7,771 8,410 1,133,075 1,160,700 4,112,575 4,579,450 300—
400— 1,703 1,824 4,458 5,018 766,350 820,800 2,979,500 3,418,750 400—
                   
500— 1,006 1,098 2,755 3,194 553,300 603,900 2,213,150 2,597,950 500—
600— 567 666 1,749 2,096 368,550 432,900 1,659,850 1,994,050 600—
700— 319 390 1,182 1,430 239,250 292,500 1,291,300 1,561,150 700—
800— 243 270 863 1,040 206,550 229,500 1,052,050 1,268,650 800—
900— 128 188 620 770 121,600 178,600 845,500 1,039,150 900—
                   
1000— 206 249 492 582 226,600 273,000 723,900 860,550 1000—
1200— 128 159 286 333 172,800 214,650 497,300 586,650 1200—
1500— 94 84 153 174 164,500 147,000 324,500 372,000 1500—
2000 and upwards 64 90 64 90 160,000 225,000 160,000 225,000 2000 and upwards

Agricultural labourers

The number of men classed as agricultural labourers in 1851 was 908,678; in 1871 they fell to 764,574, adding shepherds and in-door farm servants to agricultural labourers the numbers fell progressively from 1,110,311 in 1851 to 1,098,261 in 1861, and to 922,054 in 1871. But notwithstanding the explicit instructions on the subject to the householders and the enumerators, it is not improbable that many agricultural labourers returned themselves simply as labourers: to enable the skilful inquirer to judge for himself we place the facts in juxtaposition in the annexed table.

NUMBER of MEN RETURNED as AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS, LABOURERS (branch undefined), SHEPHERD (out-door), and FARM SERVANT (in-door) at EACH of the THREE CENSUSES of ENGLAND and WALES, 1851, 1861, and 1871.

1851. 1861. 1871.
(a.) Agricultural Labourers 908,678 914,301 764,754
(b.) Labourers (branch undefined) 324,594 306,544 509,456
  1,233,272 1,220,845 1,274,030
(c.) Shepherd (out-door) 12,517 25,559 23,323
(d.) Farm Servant (in-door) 189,116 158,401 134,157
  1,434,905 1,404,805 1,431,510
a +b +c +d 1,110,311 1,098,261 922,054

Mr. Read, M.P., and Mr. Caird, good authorities, hold that there has been a diminution of the number of agricultural labourers.

Farm-holdings

Adding to the 225,569 farmers and graziers of the stronger sex 24,338 women who are also farmers or graziers, a total of 249,907 is obtained; it includes the occupiers of land not returned under any other profession, and may be compared with the holdings of land in the agricultural returns. The total number of holdings of five acres and upwards in 1872 was 309,708, two or more of which were sometimes held by one person, and some were held by persons who were certainly not farmers. The agricultural returns (pp. 24-26) mention also 171,714 holdings of five acres and less. The farmers, in the proper sense of the word, probably do not exceed 250,000. It is remarkable that the number of farms now in the country agrees closely with the number of hydes in the early accounts.

Farmers—size of Farms—Labourers employed

In the Householders Schedule farmers returned, as they were directed under the Census Act, the number of acres they farmed, and the number of farm labourers they employed. employed. In 1851 their returns were tabulated for the whole country; in 1871 the tabulation extended over 17 representative counties, and was so arranged as to show in comparison the size of farms, and the number of labourers at the two epochs, 20 years apart. The cross tables show how many labourers were employed on farms of various sizes from (0-5) acres up to 2,000 acres and upwards; but the information was not rendered in all cases, either as regards the acreage or the labourers. In 1871 no less than 59,870 farmers returned the acreage of their farms, which, classed under 24 heads, according to size, enable us to estimate the total area at 9,088,193 acres. The average size of a farm is 152 acres, hut this is of less importance than the actual size. It will he noticed that 12,075, or more than a fifth of the occupancies cover less than 20 acres, and that as the acreage increases over 10 acres, the number of holdings decreases in a regular series. This is evident when the acreage is arranged in hundreds: thus the farms under 100 acres are 33,162; the farms of 100 and less than 200 acres are 12,047; those of 200-300 acres 0,251, and so on. The farms of 200 acres and upwards in these 17 counties are 14,661; of 500 acres and upwards 3,194; of 1,000 acres and upwards 582; of 2,000 acres and upwards 90.

ENGLAND.—Farmers employing IN and OUT DOOR LABOURERS, in 17 representative Counties of England; viz., Surrey (extra-Metropolitan), Kent (extra-Metropolitan), Sussex, Hants, Berks,Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Leicester, Rutland, Lincoln, Nottingham, Derby, Durham, Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmorland.

Labourers employed by each Farmer. Number of Farmers employing the Labourers in Col.1. Aggregate Number of Farmers, each having not less than the Number of Labourers specified in Col. 1 against the Number. Labourers employed by Farmers in Cols 2 and 3. Labourers employed by Farmers in Cols. 4 and 5. Labourers employed by each Farmer.
1851. 1871. 1851. 1871. 1851. 1871. 1851. 1871.
(Col.1.) (2.) (3.) (4.) (5.) (6.) (7.) (8.) (9.)  
0 23,540 25,618 69,349 60,762 281,634 201,903 0
1 9,550 7,198 *45,809 *35,144 9,550 7,198 281,634 201,903 1
2 8,357 6,207 36,259 27,946 16,714 12,414 272,084 194,705 2
3 5,642 4,350 27,902 21,739 16,926 13,050 255,370 182,291 3
4 4,772 3,317 22,260 17,389 19,088 13,268 238,444 169,241 4
                   
5 2,745 2,338 17,488 14,072 13,725 11,690 219,356 155,973 5
6 2,399 2,077 14,743 11,734 14,394 12,462 205,631 144,283 6
7 1,451 1,450 12,344 9,657 10,157 10,150 191,237 131,821 7
8 1,601 1,589 10,893 8,207 12,808 12,712 181,080 121,671 8
9 1,083 977 9,292 6,618 9,747 8,793 168,272 108,959 9
                   
10— 4,176 3,129 8,200 5,641 52,200 39,113 158,525 100,166 10—
15— 1,568 1,181 4,033 2,512 27,440 20,668 106,325 61,053 15—
20— 1,098 641 2,465 1,331 24,705 14,423 78,885 40,385 20—
25— 437 288 1,367 690 12,018 7,920 54,180 25,962 25—
30— 384 161 930 402 12,480 5,233 42,162 18,042 30—
                   
35— 133 66 546 241 4,988 2,475 29,682 12,809 35—
40— 147 71 413 175 6,248 3,018 24,694 10,334 40—
45— 65 26 266 104 3,088 1,235 18,446 7,316 45—
50— 73 21 201 78 3,833 1,103 15,358 6,081 50—
55— 30 17 128 57 1,725 978 11,525 4,978 55—
                   
60 and upwards 98 40 98 40 9,800 4,000 9,800 4,000 60 and upwards
* 23,540 Farmers in 1851, and 25,618 in 1871 made no return of the number of Labourers on the Farms; in the majority of such cases it may be assumed that no Labourer were employed by them. The Table may be read thus: 2,745 Farmers employed 5 Labourers, neither more or less, in 1851, or 13,725 in the aggregate. In 1871, 2,338 Farmers employed 5 Labourers, or 11,690 in the aggregate, and so on.
Under 5 51,861 46,690 69,349 60,762 281,634 201,903 Under 5
5— 9,279 8,431 17,488 14,072 60,831 55,807 219,356 155,973 5—
10— 4,176 3,129 8,209 5,641 52,200 39,113 158,525 100,166 10—
15— 1,568 1,131 4,033 2,512 27,440 20,668 106,325 61,053 15—
                   
20— 1,098 641 2,465 1,331 24,705 14,423 78,885 40,385 20—
25— 437 288 1,367 690 12,018 7,920 54,180 25,962 25—
30— 384 161 930 402 12,480 5,233 42,162 18,042 30—
35— 133 66 546 241 4,988 2,475 29,682 12,809 35—
                   
40— 147 71 413 175 6,248 3,018 24,694 10,334 40—
45— 65 26 266 104 3,088 1,235 18,446 7,316 45—
50— 73 21 201 78 3,833 1,103 15,358 6,081 50—
55— 30 17 128 57 1,725 978 11,525 4,978 55—
                   
60 and upwards 98 40 98 40 9,800 4,000 9,800 4,000 60 and upwards

Upon comparing the numbers of 1851 with those of 1871 there is found to he a decrease of farms; in the latter year the small farms are less in number, the large farms are greater in number than in 1851. There were 14,701 farms of 200 acres and upwards in 1851, and 14,661 in 1871. That is the turning point. The farms of under 100 acres were 39,139 in 1851 and 33.162 in 1871; the farms of 1,000 acres and upwards were 492 in 1851 and 582 in 1871. The acreage of farms under 100 acres was 1,542,484 in 1851 and 1,244,893 in 1871; the acreage of farms of 1,000 acres and upwards was 723,900 in 1851 and 860,550 in 1871. Some addition should be made for the 714 farms and the 892 farms of which the acreage was not returned in 1851 or 1871. The number of acres returned in these tables is less in 1871 than in 1851.

A second view of the tables exhibits a classification of farmers according to the number of labourers in their employ. Of 60,762 farmers, 25,618 returned no labourer; 7,198 returned 1 labourer; 6,207 returned 2 labourers; 4,350 returned 3 labourers. The total number of labourers employed by 35,144 farmers employing one or more was, according to these numbers, 201,903; or less than 6 to a farm on which labourers were employed.

Add the farmers themselves and the number of farmers and labourers becomes 262,665 employed on 60,762 farms of rather more than 9,088,193 acres; a man to about 35 acres.

The number of farmers making these returns decreased; they were 69,349 in 1851 and 60,762 in 1871; the labourers from 281,634 fell to 201,903. In the aggregate, in 20 years, the farmers and their men from 350,983 in 1851 fell to 262,665 hi the 17 counties.

This return of the farmers is quite in accordance with the return of the labourers themselves in their Schedules, and implies an actual transfer of the agricultural labourer to labours of a different kind.

There can be no doubt that the agricultural produce of the soil is now greater than it ever was, and as human labour is replaced by machinery, the proportion of that labour consumed in any given agricultural product becomes every year less.

It will be observed that these returns express the number of farmers occupying land, and so differ from the so-called holdings,—or separate occupations—of the agricultural returns.

Both show conclusively that the number of small farms is much greater than had generally been supposed, and that the English system of tenure and occupancy,— however much it may admit of improvement in detail—is in principle admirably adapted to the circumstances of the people. There is an opening to every grade of capitalists; the proprietor can buy the freehold, and farm it himself, or let it to a skilled farmer who has capital enough, not to buy, but to stock the farm; while the agricultural labourer, whose capital is concentrated in his head and arms can find employment, and get wages without incurring any risk such as the peasant proprietor encounters from the vicissitudes of the seasons.7

Let us return to the facts for all England and Wales.

Farmers' wives are generally engaged in the home work of the farm; they amounted to 187,029; the daughters; and female relatives residing in the farm-house to 92,187. The female in-door farm servants were 24,599, little more than half the number so returned ten years ago. 33,513 girls and women were out-door agricultural labourers in April 1871; 26,728 being of the age of 20 and upwards. The number at all ages in 1861 was 43,964.

Arboriculturalists and Horticulturalists

Forests and woods found employment for 8,907 men in 1861, and 7,855 men in 1871. It is to be feared that though the fuel of the future is at stake, tree culture is not adequately kept up. If arboriculture is declining, as it yields slow crops, horticulture, including the culture of fruit and flowers for daily consumption, is flourishing; the gardeners were 95,829 in addition to the 18,088 domestic gardeners, and 2,24-0 women. This is a large increase on the numbers of 1861.

Persons engaged about animals

The Ninth Order consists of some 98,101 well characterized and peculiar people employed almost exclusively about living animals; horse owners and dealers 1,304; horse breakers 1,253; horse keepers, grooms, and jockeys 42,082; huntsmen 039 (the number in the previous census was 454); farriers or veterinary surgeons 6,050; gamekeepers 12,429, a large increase on the numbers, 9,848, returned in 1801. The rat-catchers and vermin destroyers were 1,552. Fish-breeders now appear among the occupations, though in small numbers.

Fishermen

The fishermen enumerated at home were 10,992 and 20,679 at the last two censuses; still the demand increases, and the sea invites more of these hardy adventurers to gather its inexhaustible spoils.

Density of Population and of Live Stock

The Agricultural Returns prepared by the Board of Trade enable us to show the density of live stock, in comparison with the density of population. The cultivated land, if the population is sustained by agriculture, is in direct relation to population, which is little influenced by land out of cultivation.

GROUPS OF COUNTIES PROPER. Proportions per cent of To a Square Mile—the Number of
Culti-
vated Land.
Uncult-
ivated Land.
Persons. Horses
used solely
for Agricul-
ture, &c.
Cattle. Sheep. Pigs.
ENGLAND AND WALES 74.81 25.19 390 19 77 356 44
               
ENGLAND (including Monmouthshire 77.17 22.83 422 19 77 352 46
WALES 58.50 41.50 165 16 82 389 32
               
METROPOLITAN COUNTIES 69.60 30.40 3,498 17 60 116 52
SOUTH-EASTERN COUNTIES 80.07 10.93 375 17 47 425 46
SOUTH-MIDLAND COUNTIES 91.30 8.70 253 23 72 398 62
EASTERN COUNTIES 81.55 18.45 230 26 48 275 70
SOUTH WESTERN COUNTIES 74.79 25.21 238 17 85 387 50
WEST MIDLAND COUNTIES 85.94 14.06 444 20 92 334 54
NORTH-MIDLAND COUNTIES 85.37 14.63 257 21 95 451 43
NORTH-WESTERN COUNTIES 67.89 32.11 1,131 17 128 145 38
YORKSHIRE 71.07 28.93 402 20 77 326 35
NORTHERN COUNTIES 56.83 43.17 255 11 64 371 14
MONMOUTHSHIRE AND WALES 59.26 40.74 178 16 81 384 32

Industrial Class

V.—INDUSTRIAL CLASS. (Orders 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15.) This is the class of makers or artizans. They deal in matter that is either no longer living, or that never lived. They alter the form, texture, or composition of the materials in which they work so as to produce a great variety of new goods, instruments, and machines. Their pay and profits are charged in the price of commodities; the wages of the workmen being advanced by their masters. The Orders are grouped according to the materials, distinguishing those derived from the three kingdoms of Nature. The first Order of the class includes artizans making products of various materials, derived sometimes from the three kingdoms, such as coaches, ships, workshops, factories, houses, and then furniture or other contents. Then follow the persons engaged in. the textile fabrics. "Wool, silk, cotton, flax, and hemp are durable and divisible, so they are particularly favourable to the sub-division of labour and the application of machinery. They constitute the essentially manufacturing class. In a Sub-order are the artizans who convert the textile fabrics, and some other matters, into dress. Human food, drinks, and stimulants, derived from the animal and vegetable kingdoms, occupy a distinct Order, sub-divided into three Sub-orders. Then follow (13) the persons chiefly or exclusively working* and dealing in animal substances, (14) those working and dealing in vegetable substances, and (15) those working and dealing chiefly in minerals and metals. The first Sub-order of the latter Order (15) includes the mining population of every kind; the other thirteen Sub-orders include the workers in the chief metals and minerals in use, beginning with coal and ending with steel.

Man alone in the animal world uses tools, and so essential are they that epochs in the past ages of his evolution are characterized by their constituent substances. At a certain stage of prehistoric time,8 unground flint instruments or tools came into use, then the new stone, the neolithic age, when the ground-stone epoch sprang up, and after a long interval, was succeeded by the bronze age, which in the end gave way to the iron age—the steel age—in which the people engaged in the industrial arts are now living.

No less than 5,137,725 persons in England are now in the Industrial Class; including no less than 1,521,998 women and 3,615,727 men.

Persons engaged in mechanical productions

The Tenth Order supplies all the previous classes with their symbols, tools, and weapons; the monarch with his crown, the soldier with his arms, the seaman with Ms ship, compass, chronometer, the priest with his stole, the lawyer with his parchments and wigs, the surgeon with his instruments, the author with his pen, the painter with his brush and his colours, the musician with his organ, the engineer with his theodolite, the banker with his money, the railway service with locomotives, the coachman with coaches, the carman with waggons, the canal service with barges, the shipowner with sailing ships and steamers, the farmer with his plough, the woodman with his axe, the gardener with his spade, the horseman with his bridle, the gamekeeper with his gun, the fisherman with his tackle and nets, the householder with his dwelling and its furniture, the housewife with her needle and her hearth.—"What a contrast in numbers and skill with the artizans of the stone age!This Order embraces, as we have said, men employed in making instruments of production, and in other allied arts, often requiring great skill and the use of artful combinations of the metals and wood: the number 1,144,571 in the Order includes only 57,848 women; of the 1,086,723 males, 184,308 are boys under 20, 902,415 are men of 20 and upwards.

Printers, book-sellers, &c.

Taking the males first, the booksellers and publishers, 7,301, show scarcely any increase on the numbers in 1861; bookbinders have increased; and printers, from. 30,171, have risen to 44,073; newspaper publishers have increased largely, and so have agents. 7,557 women are bookbinders: 3,270 under and 4,287 at or above 20 years of age.

Musical instrument makers, lithographers, &c.

In the last ten years musical instrument makers and dealers increased, so did lithographers, while copper-plate engravers declined; wood carvers increased. The artificial flower makers and the toy makers increased slightly.

Watchmakers

The watch and clock makers are nearly stationary: males 20,221 in 1861 and 20,693 in 1871; females 536 and 580. Philosophical instrument makers are decreasing.

Surgical instrument maksers, Gunsmiths

The number of surgical instrument makers also increased considerably, although the lancet has gone almost out of fashion. The gunsmiths were stationary; 2,157 girls and women were employed in making those useful but ungentle articles percussion caps, cartridges, and ammunition.

Engine and machine makers

The great body of engine and machine makers (males) rose from 61,266 to 106,437 in the ten years; agricultural implement makers from 1,034 to 3,617. Millwrights declined; so did scissors makers. Other tool-makers increased to some extent. The processes have been much abridged in this Order by the substitution of self-acting mechanism for manual labour.9 The manufacture of needles employed 2,629 males, 2,110 females; of pins 284 males, 403 females; of steel pens 200 males, 1,577 females. The numbers increased, except in the case of pins which are made by machinery or for which some substitutes suited for use by feminine fingers have apparently been found.

Coachbuilders

Coachmakers (males) are increasing; they were 22,706 besides 1894 employed on railway carriages. The ancient wheelwrights, to the number of 30,311 (males)3 are spread all over the kingdom. They have scarcely increased in the ten years.

Saddlers

Saddlers, harness, and whip makers increased to 21,181 men and 1,830 women.

Shipbuilders

Shipwrights ano ship-builders increased from 39,058 men to 40,605.

Builders, Carpenters, &c.

The great building Sub-order numbered 579,326 men; 13,926 women, of whom 12,083 were house proprietors. Of the men only 4,403 returned themselves as house proprietors, that is, as persons having no other specific occupation. The architects, builders, carpenters, bricklayers, masons, slaters, plasterers, paperhangers, plumbers painters, and glaziers are all displayed in detail under their respective ages; they have all increased; the carpenters and joiners from 177,818 (men) to 205,624; plumbers, painters, and glaziers from 74,258 to 103,382. The Sub-order of furniture makers and dealers also increased to 71,006, including 9,827 women. These two Sub-orders are engaged in large works, and depend very much more than other classes on the progress of population; thus, as we have seen, they are not only employed in the repairing and the re-building of all existing houses, structures, and works, but in creating new houses which can only be in demand so long as the population increases. The confraternity of masons, however, easily transports its venerable and useful arts to fields where its civilizing dwellings and temples are in demand.

Manufacture of chemicals

The previous arts are chiefly mechanical; the next Sub-order applies chemical force in the production of new products and notably of colours. The first application of chemical force to use was in fire, that is, oxidation of combustible matter; then came gunpowder; but its applications are now rapidly increasing in every direction, and especially in that of the production of brilliant dyes.

Textile fabrics

The Eleventh Order employs 2,150,791 persons in textile and dyed fabrics and dress; it is the special Order in which women have been engaged from time immemorial: there are now 1,298,523 women and girls so engaged, against 852,268 men and boys.

Wool, worsted manufacture

The workers and dealers in wool and worsted are 253,490. The numbers engaged in the woollen cloth manufacture were 130,148 in 1861, and rather less or 128,464, in 1871; in the meantime there has been a large substitution of women for men. The same fact is observed in the worsted manufacture, in which the employed increased from 79,242 to 94,766, of whom 60,713 were females, 30,685 of them being girls under 20, and 30,028 women aged 20 and upwards. It is evidently a manufacture on the increase.

Silk manufacture

Not so the silk and ribbon manufacture, in which 82,053 persons—28,865 males, 53,188 females—are employed. The decrease 4 on the numbers of 1861 is large. It may be added that probably owing to the war and anarchy in France there was an enormous increase in the production of English silk goods in the year following the census.

Cotton and flax manufacture

On flax and cotton manufactures 562,015 persons were employed, 223,217 males, 338,798 females. 144,802 men, 200,171 women were of the age of 20 and upwards.

The numbers in the cotton manufacture increased but little, and that increase was in the females, as shown below. In the cotton export there was no increase of importance.

Employed in Cotton Manufacture. 1861. 1871.
Males 197,572 188,272
Females 259,074 279,870
Total 456,646 468,142

Factory Returns, and the Census Returns

The Returns relating to Factories and Workshops prepared by Mr. Alexander Redgrave and Mr. Robert Baker, Her Majesty's Inspectors of Factories, record the number of persons employed in the manufacturing establishments of the country in the year 1870, and it is interesting to observe how closely some of these results—derived from information chiefly supplied by the manufacturers themselves—agree with the results derived from the Census Returns.

This agreement between the two returns is striking in some of the occupations connected with the textile fabrics; the number of persons recorded in the Factory Returns and in the Census Returns respectively, being as follows:—Cotton, 414,970 and 468,142; woollen cloth, 100,640 and 128,464; worsted, 103,514 and 94,766; flax, 19,816 and 17,993.

The numbers recorded in the Factory Returns do not always represent the results for the whole of England and Wales, and, therefore, where the numbers in the Census Returns are in excess, they may be considered to be the most correct.

In cases where the agreement between the two sets of facts is less remarkable, differences of classification, and other causes might account for the discrepancies. The Factory Returns record a greater number of hands employed in the manufacture of jute and hemp; and the results may be considered to be more satisfactory than those recorded against these occupations in the Census Returns. For persons following such occupations may—in filling up the Householders' Schedules—have thought more of the operation in which they were engaged, such as "spinning" or "weaving," than of the material in which they worked.

Many of the results are of course not comparable, such for instance as that of clock and watch manufacture, under which only 4,068 hands are recorded in the Factory Returns, while the Census Abstracts give 21,273; the latter number, including all persons who returned themselves throughout the country as watch and clock makers.

Lace manufacture

The women employed in lace manufacture decreased from 45,279 to 40,801 in ten years: the men from 9,338 to 8,569. The lace-making machinery increases enormously the productive power of the trade.

Of the 116,913 persons working and dealing in mixed textures 55,225 men, and 19,112 women were mercers and drapers.

Makers of dress

Spun and woven wool, silk and cotton, are the materials of which the dressmakers men and women, make clothes; and in addition they have at command the. skins which were the clothing of primitive men and women10 but skins are now dressed as well as hides into rich furs and useful leathers. Dress, formerly a domestic product from its original fibre up to the finished state, is now a manufacture on a large scale.

There are 1,115,247 persons, 384,794 men, and 730,453 women of specific occupations in the Sub-order, of whom 329,601 men, and 594,671 women, are 20 years of age and upwards; they are brought a good deal into personal contact with their customers. Tailors and shoemakers are diffused all over the country, but they and the other clothing trades are in undue proportion congregated in towns. Of the male sex. the head coverings occupy 11,885 professors of the ban-dressing art, and 13,510 hatters; of the female sex 1,240 and 8,238. The female hatters have increased nearly threefold in the ten years. The straw plait manufacture employed 3,593 males, 45,270 females.

The tailors (men) are 111,843, and have increased little since 1861. They are exceeded in number by 197,465 shoemakers who have actually fallen off in numbers from the 211,223 of ten. years ago. Sowing machines have increased the power of work in both these branches of industry, so the numbers of workmen have declined as the increased demand does not yet call more into existence. There is an increase of women tailors, but a large decrease of women shoemakers. The hosiery manufacture employed 22,367 males, 19,671 females. There is a decrease of men between the two censuses. Button-makers as well as pin-makers also declined in numbers.

Hemp, &c. manufacture

Among the workers in hemp and other fibrous materials, ropemakers are the most numerous; their numbers are declining; many women are employed in net-making.

Production of food and drink

We now come to the Twelfth Order , 464,051 in number, including 332,801 men of the age of 20 and upwards. They are divided into three Sub-orders, according as they deal in animal food, in. vegetable food, or in drinks and stimulants. The types of the three Sub-orders are the butcher, the baker, the wine merchant. The butchers (men) increased between the censuses from 65,595 to 72,682; bakers and confectioners from 56,347 to 62,120; greengrocers from 13,496 to 18,983; brewers and their men from 20,033 to 25,562; wine and spirit merchants from 7,458 to 10,576; millers and maltsters decreased. The increasing grocers and tea dealers numbered 88,598 men, 22,496 women.

Manufacture of animal substances

The Thirteenth Order consists of 56,351 workers and dealers in animal substances other than food, of which the tallow chandler, the currier, and the brushmaker are types. Tallow chandlers have a formidable rival in gas, and decreased; curriers increased.

Manufacture of vegetable substances

The Fourteenth Order consists of 165,340 workers and dealers in vegetable substances; the oil and colorman, the timber merchant, the cooper, the cork cutter, the basket maker, the paper maker are types. The increasing French-polishers now amount to 6,354 men, 1,461 women. The India-rubber and gutta-percha manufacture is a rapidly increasing industry; the number of males employed from 877 in 1861 rose to 8,782 at the last census. Sawyers decreased, coopers and basket makers were nearly stationary. 10,142 men and 6,630 women are employed in the manufacture of paper. The number of men increased largely.

Workers in minerals

The Fifteenth Order consists of 1,093,077 men and only 63,544 women working and dealing in minerals. 854,326 are men of 20 years of age and upwards, 238,751 "boys under 20. 376,783 of the Order are miners, including colliers; 360,356 are workers and dealers in iron and steel.

Miners

Miner is a general term which, where there is only one kind of mineral, requires no colloquial qualification; but we wanted to know the precise number of copper miners, tin miners, lead miners, iron miners, in our census; and instructions were drawn up to secure that information. The distinction was not invariably made, and cannot be made now without a special local inquiry. Under these circumstances we present in one view the numbers of men engaged in mining operations, as they were returned at the three last censuses.

NUMBER of MEN RETURNED, as MINERS at EACH of the THREE CENSUSES of ENGLAND and WALES, 1851, 1861, and 1871.

1851. 1861. 1871.
Coal Miners 183,389 246,613 268,091
Copper Miners 18,449 17,727 3,063
Tin Miners 12,911 14,314 10,617
Lead Miners 20,030 18,552 14,563
Iron Miners 19,380 20,626 20,931
Miners (branch undefined) 7,502 38,712
Coal Mine Service 10,346
Mine Service 4,231
Others 551
TOTAL 254,159 325,334 371,105

The coal merchants and coallheavers are numerous; there are 6,211 chimney sweepers. The rapidly increasing gasworks service numbered 13,561 men. The stone quarriers increased to 25,681; the brickmakers fell to 36,249. The railway labourers, platelayers, and navvies, 43,008 in 1861, amounted to 45,070 in 1871. The strange industry of coprolite diggers and dealers employed 1,691 men and 95 women: ten years ago only 139 men were so employed. The number of plaster and cement makers was doubled in ten years. Earthenware and china employed in making or selling their wares, 52,620 persons, 34,398 males and 18,222 females; glassmaking and selling 20,281-, chiefly males. The waterworks service employs only 3,347. persons, as the storing and supply of this vital fluid in a pure state are not yet sufficiently appreciated. The workers and dealers in gold, silver, and precious stones are increasing; they are 27,139. The electro-plate manufacture already employs 1,042 men, 131 women. The numbers engaged in the copper manufacture and the coppersmiths, though considerable, are exceeded by the numbers engaged in the tin manufacture. The tinplate workers and tinmen numbered 16,441; the number of males in the tin manufacture increased from 3,266 to 6,141. The use of zinc is extending; the numbers in lead manufactures are nearly stationary. The brass manufacture is a large industry, in which, including braziers, 20,983 men are employed. The locksmiths and bellhangers (men) increased from 5,472 to 7,154 in the last ten years; gasfitters from 5,448 to 8,615: wireworkers and drawers from 5,629 to 7,435.

Iron manufacture

The vast iron manufacture of the country has made prodigious strides; the numbers of men engaged in it were 123,506 in 1861 and 178,114 in 1871; the numbers working and dealing in steel at the same dates were 3,186 and 5,719. The blacksmiths are a large army of 112,035 stalwart men in their shops all over the kingdom. The nail manufacture employed 12,367 males, 10,864 females: the number of males declined, a fact probably due to the larger application of machinery.

Indefinite and Non-productive Class

VI.—INDEFINITE AND NON-PRODUCTIVE CLASS. (Orders 16, 17, 18.) The last class includes the numbers returned in a vague way, so as to scarcely admit of classification among the orders either of the professional, the domestic, the commercial, the agricultural, or the industrial classes. Its numbers will diminish as the returns become better.

General labourers

The Sixteenth Order consists of 516,605 general labourers, and 285,698 other persons of occupations imperfectly and vaguely described; the greater part of them, are males, and if properly returned would have been distributed over the preceding five classes. This will be evident on referring to the details. Vagrants, gipsies, criminals, prostitutes, and the like, are so imperfectly returned that no advantage could have been derived from the publication of their statements; they have generally some other occupation, and they could only be returned with any approach to accuracy by the police. Lunatics in asylums, criminals in jails, and persons retired from business have been returned under the previous occupations, and no attempt was made to distinguish the persons actually out of employ on the census clay from those at work. For this could only be done in connection with an inquiry into earnings.

Persons of rank or property

The Seventeenth Order comprises 168,895 persons of rank or property not returned under any office or occupation: 143,385 are ladies, and 25,510 gentlemen. They were at former censuses returned as annuitants, gentlemen, gentlewomen, persons of independent means. The number is not great in such a society as ours, and it is probable that a considerable number of the men have been engaged in professions or businesses from which they have retired. The greater part of them are probably not idle, and many of them are most usefully engaged in public and charitable works to which the busy cannot attend.

Children, scholars

The Eighteenth Order consists of 7,541,508 children under fifteen years of age that have not been distributed by their occupations. 3,563,888 are returned as scholars and 3,977,620 as children at home. Add 660,525 who are already engaged in some specific occupation, and the total of 8,202,033 children are obtained, the coming men and women of the English race.

Taking the numbers of boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 15; the following was their distribution in 1871:—

BOYS. GIRLS. TOTAL.
Scholars 1,598,787 1,524,998 3,123,785
Sons and Daughters at Home, &c. 569,050 777,405 1,346,455
Boys and Girls engaged in Occupations 403,752 256,773 660,525
Total 2,571,589 2,559,176 5,130,765

Daughters at home are employed to a considerable extent in assisting their mothers in household duties, and the sons find employment at one time of a year or another; but a large number of both boys and girls among the 1,346,455 of the age 5-15 who have no settled occupation, might be at the schools with profit.

This Order is perhaps so distinct from all others that it should be properly constituted a class. The unemployed children produce no direct profit to the parents by whom they are bred, nurtured, and educated, but the capital sunk in them, so far from being lost, reappears with interest in their future earnings.

The Tables 105 and 106 (Appendix A.) will be studied with interest by the friends of education. In both sexes the increase in the number of scholars, not only at the age 5-10, but further of scholars of the age 10-15, is rapid; and of the girls of 15-20 the number has been doubled since 1851, so that we may hope the higher education is advancing.

The occupations of persons born in various foreign countries, but living in England are shown in a special series of Tables which are well worthy of attention. [Summary Tables XXV-XXVII in Volume III.]


1 See Volume III, and Tables 99-108 in Appendix A.

2 The French Commission restricts the return of the famille to the wife, husband, children, or relatives living at the expense of the worker, and having no other means of existence.

3 French Census of 1866, p. lviii.

4 Congrès International de Statistique à St. Petersbourg, Programme, p.11.

5 Vol.III., pp.225-247.

6 See Table 148.

7 See a suggestive paper by Mr. G. W. Norman on the question "Why is it that so much land is occupied and cultivated by its owners in France and some other European countries on the Continent, and so little in England," in the Journal of the Statistical Society, September 1873.

The following note has been kindly supplied by General Walker, Superintendent of the United States Census. He observes that hind is acquired on such easy terms in the United States, that landed proprietors are not distinguished in the Census. The Earners, it maybe inferred, in the great majority of cases, own their own land.—"The Census of Agriculture for 1870 shows 2,659,085 'Farms' in the United States. Of these, 6,875 were of under 3 acres (mere market gardens); 172,021 were of between 3 and 10 acres; 294,607 of between 10 and 20 acres; 847,614 of between 20 and 50 acres; 754,221 of between 50 and 100 acres; 505,054 of between 100 and 500 acres; 15,873 of between 500 and 1,000 acres; 3,720 of over 1,000 acres. The aggregate amount of land embraced thus in 'Farms' is 407,735,041 acres, a very small part of the land surface of the United States." The average size of these holdings is 154 acres.

8 Taylor's "Early History of Mankind;" and Sir J.Lubbock's "Pre-historic Times" and "Origin of Civilization." Lucretius thus sketches, in his masterly way, the early progress of mankind in the Arts. To some extent the ancient philosophy anticipates modern views:—

Arma antiqua manus, ungues, dentesque feuerunt Man's earliest arms were fingers, teeth, and nails,
Et lapides et item silvarum fragmina rami And stones, and fragments from the branching woods.
Et flamma atque ignes, postquam sunt cognita primum. Then fires and flames they joined, detected soon;
Psterius ferri vis est arisque reperta. Then copper next; and last, as latest traced,
Et prior aris erat quam ferri cognitus usus, The tyrant iron, than the copper vein
Quo facilis magis est natura et copia major. Less freely found, and sturdier to subdue.
ære solum terræ tractabant, æreque belli Hence first with copper ploughed they; in the waves
Miscebant fluctus et vulnera vasta serebant, Mixed of wild warfare, dealt its deadly wounds,
Et pecus atque agros adimebant; nam facile illis And ransacked fields, and cattle; for the unarmed
Omnia cedebant armatis nuda et inerma. Soon yielded all things to the armed foe.
Inde minutatim processit ferreus ensis, But, by degrees, the blade of iron gleamed,
Versaque in obprobrium species est falcis ahenæ, Triumphant rising o'er the copper tool.
Et ferro cæpere solum proscindere terræ, With iron sole the genial soil they clove,
Exaquataque sunt creperi certamina belli And with its fury tried the doubtful fray
LUCRETIUS, lib.v. MASON GOOD'S Translation.

9 See examples in Mr. Brassey's address at the Social Science Congress at Norwich. Social Science Transactions for 1873.

10

Nexilis ante fuit vestis, quam textile tegmen.
Textile post ferrum est; quia ferro tela parantur;
Nec ratione alia possunt tam lævia gigni
Insilia, ac fusi, et radii, scapique sonantes.

Lucretius, lib.V.

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