Note 16 — CONTENTS.
Reading edition
According to Mr Rickman, from the best information that can be obtained from Doomsday Book, the population of England in the time of William the Conqueror was 1½ millions.
In the reign of Edward the Third (1377), when a poll-tax was imposed on all persons of both sexes above fourteen, it was 2½ millions.
In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, at the period of the Spanish Armada, it was 4 millions.
According to Mr Finlaison, at the close of the 16th century it was somewhat under 5 millions two hundred thousand.
According to Mr Rickman, on a computation founded on the return of Baptisms, as stated in the Abstract of Parish Registers, it was in 1700, 5½ millions; in 1750, 6½ millions; and in 1770, 7½ millions.
The first actual enumeration was made in 1801. The following table exhibits the rate of increase in the population of Great Britain from that time up to the enumeration in 1851:
Years. Population. Increase Each Decennial Period. Annual Rate of Increase per cent.
1801 10,917,433
1811 12,424,120 1,506,687 1.274
1821 14,402,643 1,978,523 1.489
1831 16,564,138 2,161,495 1.408
1841 18,813,786 2,249,648 1.279
1851 21,121,967 2,308,181 1.186