Eleventh annual report of the Registrar-General on the births, deaths, and marriages registered in Scotland during the year 1865; and first annual report on vaccination for the previous year.

  • Great Britain. General Register Office.
Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Eleventh annual report of the Registrar-General on the births, deaths, and marriages registered in Scotland during the year 1865; and first annual report on vaccination for the previous year. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    11/48 page 11
    Scottish emigrants would amount to 13277, which, deducted from the excess of births over deaths, would make the increase of the population during the year to amount to 29028 persons, or about 11000 more than the probable increase. MARRIAGES. 23577 Marriages were registered in Scotland during the year 1865, being in the proportion of 75 marriages in every ten thousand persons of the estimated population. This is the highest proportion of marriages which has occurred in Scotland during the last eleven years—which perhaps ever has occurred. Up till 1862 the annual marriage-rate was 68 marriages in every ten thousand persons ; but in 1863 it rose to 71, in 1864 to 72, and in 1865 to 75 marriages in every ten thousand persons. The annual increase in the marriage-rate has therefore been steady and progressive during three con- secutive years, and, as already pointed out, has already told visibly on the births. There is no surer sign of the general prosperity of a country than the increase of the marriage-rate; and as this increase in the marriage-rate has been accompanied by a diminution in the number of Scotsmen who emigrated, it shows that the demand for labour is greater, and the means of obtaining a livelihood easier than usual in Scotland. Of the 23577 marriages, 15058 were contracted in the 126 Town Districts, and 8519 in the 884 Rural Districts ; thus indicating that in the Town Districts there were 90 marriages in every ten thousand persons, but only 58 marriages in the Rural Districts in a like population. ■m HEALTH OF THE POPULATION. The health of the population was not good during the year 1865 : there was more than the usual amount of sickness, and a consequently high mortality. During the whole year an epidemic of typhus and typhoid fever prevailed, abating considerably during the warmer weather, but again increasing with the fall of temperature. During the very warm weather also, bowel complaints prevailed to an unusual extent, and largely increased the mortality. The extent to which these and some other diseases prevailed, however, will be best seen when remarking on the diseases prevailing in the Eight Principal Towns of Scotland, inasmuch as the returns procured weekly from them particularize the causes of death ; whereas the returns from the rest of Scotland only give the number of the persons who died during each month, and how many were males and how many females. WEATHER. Inasmuch as the character of the weather during each week of the year 1865 will have to be particularly noticed when showing its influence on the mortality in the Eight Towns of Scotland, the remarks here must be confined to the months, and especially to the influence of the mean monthly temperature on the general mortality. The mean temperature of the year 1865 was nearly one degree above the average of the nine previous years ; and this result was produced mainly by the high temperature which prevailed during June and July, but in especial during September. During the first fortnight of September the mean temperature attained a height rarely noticed even in June, and never previously noticed during September, so far as our records show
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3