Changing Family Size in England and Wales: Place, Class and Demography, 1891–1911

Cambridge Studies in Population, Economy and Society in Past Time

by Eilidh Garrett, Alice Reid, Kevin Schürer

This volume is an important study in demographic history. Garrett, Reid, SchÜrer and Szreter use techniques and approaches drawn from demography, history and geography to explore the conditions under which declines in both infant mortality and fertility within marriage occurred in England and Wales between 1891 and 1911. Extensive use is made of previously unavailable census data drawn from thirteen communities in England and Wales, particularly those from the 1911 "fertility" census. The book's sometimes surprising conclusions will be of interest to all historians of Britain and of demography.

556 pages, Paperback

First published July 4, 1997

About the author

Eilidh Garrett BSc PhD is a CAMPOP Affiliated Researcher, the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure. Dr Garrett is a historical demographer working on the demography of nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Britain.

Research:

Nineteenth and early twentieth century demography of the British Isles, particularly fertility behaviour and mortality decline, with a growing interest in the impact of migration flows on demographic rates. I have worked in close collaboration with members of the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure and the History Faculty over many years, considering the demography of Victorian Scotland, with Alice Reid and Ros Davies, the demography of Edwardian England and Wales with Kevin Schurer, Alice Reid, Richard Wall and Simon Szreter, and exploring the factors underlying infant mortality Belfast during the first decade of the twentieth century with Alice Reid and Simon Szreter. Our work on Scotland was undertaken in collaboration with Prof. Andrew Blaikie, Department of Sociology, University of Aberdeen. I also worked with Dr. Peter Razzell, University of Essex, on an ESRC funded project linking late nineteenth century census material to the vaccination birth and death registers for the town of Ipswich.

For a number of years I have been a contributor to the Digitising Scotland project, now based at the University of Edinburgh. Since 2015 I have been working for the University of Essex on the Atlas of Victorian Fertility Project, based at the Cambridge Group

My research has involved extensive transcription, cleaning, coding, linkage and analysis of individual level census and civil register material along with other late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century sources.