Content associated with: Observations, enumeration and parish register abstracts, 1821 Page 413
Census of Scotland, 1821
Matthew Woollard
The third census of Scotland was authorised by the third act of parliament with the title 'An Act for taking an Account of the Population of Great Britain, and of the Increase or Diminution thereof' (1 Geo. IV. c.94). This act was passed in July 1820.
The administrative procedures laid down for the 1821 census in Scotland were similar to those of its predecessors: the sheriff deputes and stewart deputes were to nominate and appoint the enumerators for each parish, who would either be the schoolmaster or another suitable person, and deliver to them copies of the schedule. The schoolmaster was then to take their account of the population on 28 May 1821, and when completed to take "the same to the Minister of the Parish for his Correction and Approbation, and for any Observations which he may think fit to write thereupon". During the month of June, the schoolmaster was supposed to meet with the relevant depute and pass over the returns to him. Following this they were supposed to be sent to the Secretary of State in London by 1 August. Depending on when the depute had arranged to meet with the schoolmaster the census may have been taken over a number of days. For the hastiest deputes the enumerators would have had five clear days in order to make his enumeration. The Act also authorised the deputes and provosts to compensate the schoolmasters from the Land Tax funds.
Richard Forrest, the schoolmaster for the parish of Annan in Dumfriesshire whose returns have been edited by George Gilchrist for the Scottish Records Society, are testament to the time necessary to take this census. Annan was some seventeen and a half square miles in extent, and based on the dates he added to the top of the pages of his record it is clear that he did not complete his return until well past the middle of June. Forrest's haste in completing his return may have been the reason he was excluded from the list of inhabitants.
The questions asked by the authorities were identical to those in England and Wales (see Census of England and Wales, 1821). However, the questions relating to information to be extracted from the parish registers was again omitted for Scotland because of the known levels of parochial registration.
The main addition to the previous census was the inclusion of a question relating to the age of the people. The act stated: "If you are of Opinion that in making the preceding enquiries (or at any time before returning this schedule), the ages of the several individuals can be obtained in a manner satisfactory to yourself, and not inconvenient to the parties, be pleased to state (or cause to be stated) the number of those who are under five years of age, of those between 5 and 10 Years of age, between 10 and 15, between 15 and 20, between 20 and 30, between 30 and 40, between 40 and 50, between 50 and 60, between 60 and 70, between 70 and 80, between 80 and 90, between 90 and 100, and upwards of 100, distinguishing males from females; and are there any other matters which you may think it necessary to remark..." Gilchrist, commenting on an existing enumeration suggests that it was made very inconsistently, with Robert Forrest only recording age groupings for a proportion of the population.
The results published in the enumeration abstract cover the number of houses (inhabited, building, uninhabited) and how many families occupied them, responses to the occupational questions under the headings 'families chiefly employed in agriculture', 'families chiefly employed in trade, manufactures, and handicraft' and 'all other families not comprised in the two preceding classes', and are completed with the numbers of males and females, for each parish. The abstract noted that there were 948 parishes in Scotland and that returns had been received from 1,046 separate entities.
For each county a table was appended containing the numbers of males and females returned in each age group along with a note demonstrating the extent of the coverage. Recalculating from the report it can be seen that almost 94 per cent of people returned ages. However, analysis at a county level brings up some anomalies. For example, the total number of males in Renfrewshire was reported as 51,178, while the number of men who (supposedly) reported an age totalled 54,315. Rickman was aware of this problem, but the note following the table, which reads: "The total number of persons in the shire of Renfrew was 112,175 and the ages as returned (being of 112,577 persons) are rather redundant than deficient" (p.531) is hardly helpful. The county-level response rate is interesting, ranging from a number of counties with a rate of over 100 per cent, to Stirling (79 per cent), Inverness (73 per cent), Forfar (65 per cent), Clackmannanshire (58 per cent) and Orkney and Shetland (57 per cent).
REFERENCES
Census of Great Britain, 1821, Abstract of the answers and returns made pursuant to an Act, passed in the first year of the reign of His Majesty King George IV, intituled, "An Act for taking an account of the population of Great Britain, and of the increase or diminution thereof". Preliminary observations. Enumeration abstract. Parish register abstract, 1821, BPP 1822 XV. (502). [View this document: Observations, enumeration and parish register abstracts, 1821]
G. Gilchrist, ed., Annan parish censuses, 1801–1821 (Edinburgh, 1975).
C. Sinclair, Jock Tamson's Bairns. A history of the records of the General Register Office for Scotland (Edinburgh, 2000).