Introduction

During the eighteenth century, Bntain's population started to grow.  Nobody knows exactly when – there are no reliable figures available – but in the years between 1700 and 1801 the population rose from about 6 million to 11 million. 

This rapid growth in population is properly called 'the Demographic Revolution', which is a term we shal use from now on.

The growing population needed food, clothes, houses, fuel and a great number of other goods and services such as shops, churches and public houses.  This growing demand was one of the causes of the Industrial Revolution.  It also put an unbearable strain on housing and sanitation.

After you have studied this webpage, answer the question sheet by clicking on the 'Time to Work' icon at the top of the page.

1  Taking the Census

After 1801, the government started to take a census (a counting of the population) every ten years As most people could not read or write, census enumerators visited each house and listed the people who lived there.  After 1850, they also noted down details such as marital status (whether people were married or unmarried), age, occupation and place of birth.

Here, a census enumerator takes a census in a village household. 

Interrogating the source:

• The enumerators were only human.  What kind of mistakes might have got into the final census?   

2  A Village Household in 1851

Census enumerator's returns for a house in the small village of Middridge, County Durham, in 1851.

Interrogating the source:

• What can you learn/ deduce about this family from ?