Retrospect

In the winter of 1801 a small army went out into the English and Welsh countryside to count the inhabitants. The Scots, very sensibly, postponed their count until the following summer. For each parish, an enumerator was designated: in England and Wales the local rector, vicar, curate or minister; in Scotland, the schoolmaster. Their task was to determine the number of males and females in the parish; the number of persons chiefly employed in agriculture; the number employed in trade, manufactures or handicraft; the number of soldiers, sailors and merchant seamen; and of convicts awaiting transportation on board the hulks. The results are shown in Table 5.1.