Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

These data formed the basis of a reconstruction of English population history from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, published as <i>The population history of England, 1541-1871: a reconstruction</i> (1981) by E.A. Wrigley and R.S. Schofield.
Main Topics:

The data comprise aggregated monthly totals of baptisms, marriages and burials for 404 English parishes from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. For each parish monthly and annual totals are provided, along with monthly and annual totals by decade. There are also monthly seasonality indexes by half-century. Where defective data have been replaced with corrected frequencies, the original data have also been reproduced.

Summary information has also been provided about periods of epidemic mortality crisis in each parish, and the severity of the epidemic.

There is also information about the characteristics of each of the parishes included in the study. These characteristics include: the parish's location, altitude, population in 1811, main farming and soil types, occupational structure, proximity to towns, representation in Parliament, and indicators of poverty, religious activity and the provision of education.

Please note: this study does not include information on named individuals and would therefore not be useful for personal family history research.