These figures may be taken as typical of rural Oxfordshire, but to get a really satisfactory idea of the degree to which the houses are overcrowded it would be necessary to know how many of the inmates are adults. The conclusion to be drawn as to Oxfordshire, which may perhaps be taken as a fair example of the rural areas, is that there is some, though not a very serious, housing shortage in the rural districts, and that while many of the houses are bad, there is a large proportion of quite good houses. The figures of the census may now be considered in the bearing which they have upon the subject of overcrowding which we are now considering. 9-(1752) THE UNITED KINGDOM CENSUS STATISTICS, 1821-1911 The figures for 1821 and 1831 are exclusive of the numbers in the Army, Navy, and Merchant Service. Date of enumeration. United Kingdom. England Scotland. Ireland. Persons. Males. Females. Persons. Persons. Persons. 1821 20,893,584 10,174,868 10,718,716 12,000,236 2,091,521 6,801,827 1831 24,028,584 11,680,532 12,348,052 13,896,797 2,364,386 7,767,401 1841 26,730,929 13,060,497 13,670,432 15,914,148 2,620,184 8,196,597 1851 27,390,629 13,369,227 14,021,402 17,927,609 2,888,742 6,574,287 1861 28,927,485 14,063,477 14,864,008 20,066,224 3,062,294 5,798,967 1871 31,484,661 15,301,830 16,182,831 22,712,266 3,360,018 5,412,377 1881 34,884,848 16,972,654 17,912,194 25,974,439 3,735,573 5,174,836 1891 37,732,922 18,314,571 19,418,351 29,002,525 4,025,647 4,704,750 1901 41,458,721 20,102,408 21,356,313 32,527,843 4,472, 103 4,458,775 1911 45,221,615 21,946,495 23,275,120 36,070,492 4,760,904 4,390,219 In 1821 there were 2,493,423 families or separate occupiers in In 1911 England and Wales had exactly three times as many persons per square mile as in 1821, and Scotland over twice as many; whereas Ireland, which, in the earlier part of last century, had an average density (in proportion to area) as large as that of England and Wales, and practically three times the density of Scotland, now ranks the last of the three. Density of Population. In 1821 there was an average of 3.11 acres per person in England and Wales; in 1911 the average had decreased to 1.04. The following table shows the march of urbanization since the middle of last century by the comparative figures of urban and rural districts. In 1851 the population was fairly evenly divided between the two. At the 1911 census the urban districts embraced over three Urban and Rural Districts. The figures for the aggregate of urban and rural areas for the Censuses of 1851-1871 are only approximations. The eighth volume of the Report on the Census of 1911 for England and Wales1 deals with tenements, and classifies the people by the size of the family and by the number of rooms in the occupation of that family. Tenements. The number of private families is found to be 7,943, 137, and to contain a population of 34,606,173. Of each 100,000 tenements occupied by private families in England and Wales Of the 3,207 one-roomed tenements per 100,000 referred to above1,547 were occupied by one person families of two persons 196 Comparison The following table consolidates the figures between 1891, given in the general Report of the Census for 1901 (Cd. 2174 of 1904), with the figures given in the 1901 and 1911. 4 Rooms 1,464,681 1,596,664 1,981,428 6,814,069 7,130,062 8,549,706 5 Rooms or more 2,925,296 3,750,342 4,000,807 15,903,965 19,544,734 20,510,853 6,131,001 7,036,868 8,005,290 29,002,525 32,527,843 36,070,492 Total THE ONE-ROOMED TENEMENT (Census of 1911) The following similar table, also compiled from figures given in the Report, shows at a glance the particulars relating to one-roomed tenements in England and Wales. It will be noted that there is a total population of 482,722 persons in England and Wales living in one-roomed tenements, which gives a proportion of 1,394 persons per 100,000, but of these only 727, or 7 per 1,000, were in families of over two. The table also shows that nearly 20,000 persons live six or more to a room in one-roomed tenements. In urban districts 3,952 per 100,000 private families live in oneroomed tenements, and 24,122 per 100,000 private families in four-roomed tenements, while in rural districts 605 per 100,000 private families live in one-roomed tenements, and 27,821 per 100,000 private families in four-roomed tenements. THE FOUR-ROOMED TENEMENT (Census of 1911) The commonest size of tenement is that consisting of four rooms, which forms nearly 25 per cent. of the whole, and the following table shows the proportion per 100,000 private families, the population and the proportion per 100,000 persons of the four-roomed tenement, classified according to the number of persons in the family— |