The Seasonality of Marriages and Baptisms in some Devon Seafaring Parishes

This article shows that, for a sample of Devon parishes during the period c.1700–1850, there were seasonalities in the events of marriages and baptisms in general, but that in parishes linked to seafaring, especially in the Newfoundland trade, the seasonal patterns were much greater and occurred in different months. Seasonal variations also declined and changed over time, which in part was due to the changing economies of the maritime parishes, especially after 1800 when the Newfoundland trade changed and declined. It cannot be claimed that this trade was exclusively responsible for the seasonal pattern, but the results confirm that seafaring was linked to the variation in the number of marriages and baptisms from month to month.

Literacy and Locality in Two Midlands Industrialising Places, 1754-1812

In their extensive research into early modern literacy rates, through the marriage partners' signatures, Roger Schofield and David Cressy alerted us to the potential variability of literacy by region and locality. Modern theorists of literacy have also denoted the desirability of more localised considerations. In an attempt to address that issue in combination with the development of modern society through industrialisation, this article investigates the ability to sign marriage registers (after 1754) as a nominal marker of literacy in two contiguous parishes in north-west Leicestershire, both going through the industrialisation process, but one with more diversity than the monoindustrial character of the other: Loughborough and Shepshed. In addition, the analysis takes into consideration the ability to sign by witnesses to the marriage, as a separate cohort. The printed marriage registers introduced by the Marriage Act of 1753 (26 Geo. II, c. 33), which required signature or mark by two credible witnesses, coincided with the acceleration of industrialisation and thus have particular significance for some localities. In industrialising societies, the decision to attain literacy was also influenced by local social attitudes, such as whether illiteracy carried a social stigma or not.

Infant Mortality in England, 1538-2000: Stability and the Beginnings of Change, 1837-1910

This paper, the third of four, discusses infant mortality during the Victorian and Edwardian periods, 1837-1910. It mainly uses sources generated by the civil registration of vital events, which was established in 1837, to identify trends and patterns, and more importantly, it discusses the beginnings of the secular decline in infant mortality that occurred during this period. The paper also includes examples of how research into this important topic can be carried out and it ends with suggestions for future research.

Can Indirect Estimation Methods and the Medical Officer of Health Reports 'Correct' Distorted Infant Mortality Rates Reported by the Registrar General? The Case of London, 1896–1911

The Registrar General's Returns are an integral source for historical demographers. Concerns have been raised, however, over the geographical accuracy of their pre-1911 mortality figures when institutional deaths were not redistributed to place of residence. This paper determines the extent of the distortions caused by institutional mortality in the context of aggregate infant mortality rates for London's registration sub-districts. The potential of two alternative methods to 'correct' these distortions is then assessed. The first method uses indirect estimation techniques based on data from the 1911 Fertility Census, and the second exploits the rich detail available from the Medical Officer of Health reports. Through narrowing the focus to seven London registration sub-districts over the years 1896–1911, it is shown that both suggested alternative methods remove the institutional mortality biases found in the Registrar General's figures, yet they come with their own limitations.

Illegitimacy and its Effects on Marriage Prospects in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Rural England

All births, marriages and deaths that occurred in two rural parishes in south-west England in the period 1754–1914 were examined, using a wide array of source material. Records of individuals were linked together into large multi-generational family groups. There were 4,940 births, of which 319 were illegitimate. For the illegitimate cases, the rates of subsequent marriage of mothers and fathers were determined and compared with those for other people in the same parishes. Being the father of an illegitimate child did not impact the chances of subsequent marriage. Being the mother of an illegitimate child decreased the chances of subsequent marriage but only if the mother was co-resident with her children. Where the mother did not live with the illegitimate child(ren), her chances of marriage were similar to that of other women. Mothers of illegitimate children were more likely to marry their cousins and were less geographically mobile than other mothers.

Literacy, Social Structure and Local Social Dramas

This paper starts by describing Roger Schofield's work on the measurement of literacy, and especially his use of the proportion of brides and grooms who could sign the marriage register to quantify the extent of illiteracy among different sections of society. The paper then discusses other potential sources of data on illiteracy. Frequently these sources describe local social events, in which the politics of the parish intersect the history of the nation, and social, cultural, and political history come together. Work using these sources can expose some of the intangibles of ideology, religion, and morality to which literacy only gestures. Linking these records to other local sources may reveal how kinship, neighbourliness, or economic associations drove participation in ritual, cultural, and quasi-political activities. The final part of the paper illustrates this using an extended example of the response of the local population to the wreck of a ship off the coast of Dorset in 1641.

Taxation, Writs, and Populations—Roger Schofield Measures History

This paper is a personal reflection on Roger Schofield's life and work, especially his work on taxation under the Tudors.

Taking Forward Roger's Interest in the Relationship between the Early Modern Family, Demography, Economy and Government Policy

This paper describes how Roger Schofield came to characterise the English social system of the early modern period as 'individualist-collectivist', in which individualism is located within a larger structure and context of collectivism. It discusses this in the context of his contributions to the book he co-edited with John Walter in 1989, entitled Famine, Disease and the Social Order in Early Modern Society. Roger's work related the evidence of demographic and epidemiological change not only to family structures, ideological belief systems and government policy, as saliently represented by effects of the poor laws, but also to economic productivity as a dependent variable. That was quite the opposite of the dominant orthodoxy of the post-war era, which was that demography and epidemiology were driven by economics, not vice versa. This has the implication for our own era that constructive government policy has repeatedly played an important positive role in the economic productivity of the nation and that tax-funded generous support for the poor is a central part of that, which citizens should positively support.

'I Think it Highly Necessary to Have it Done Before They Go Out into the World': Inoculation, Responsibility and Patterns of Familial Transmission of Smallpox

This paper examines two research streams. First, it will discuss some contemporary familial perspectives on smallpox inoculation in the eighteenth century. This is followed by a look at the level of provision of the practice in Oxfordshire and some of its contiguous counties. Second, the paper will present some findings on the nature of the transmission of smallpox during local early eighteenth century epidemics in Banbury, Oxfordshire and Aynho, Northamptonshire. Finally, the paper will put forward some conclusions which encompass these two streams.