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Archiver > DORSET > 1999-07 > 0930832032


From: Diana Trenchard <>
Subject: Re Dorset History
Date: Thu, 01 Jul 1999 12:27:12 +0000


The following population figures may be of interest to those whose
ancestors were involved in 19C emigration from West Dorset. They are
taken from the official census figures.
Note that they need to be viewed with an equal-spaced font such as
'Courier' in order to keep the columns in line.

Beaminster Neth'bury Bridport M'wood P'stock All'ton B'pole England/Wales

1801 2,140 1,505 3,117 449 802 716 575 8.9 million
1811 2,290 1,678 3,567 538 924 941 789 10.2
1821 2,806 1,954 3,742 532 1,010 1,139 926 12.0
1831 2,968 1,942 4,242 536 1,024 1,300 1,018 13.9
1841 3,270 2,162 4,787 554 1,090 1,545 1,357 15,9
1851 2,832 2,066 4,658 520 1,044 1,769 1,391 17.9
1861 2,614 1,976 4,645 473 1,067 1,915 1,449 20.1
1871 2,585 1,809 4,643 423 1,061 1,890 1,549 22.7
1881 2,130 1,584 3,936 335 821 1,709 1,567 25.9
1891 1,915 1,454 3,768 330 776 1,563 1,641 29.0
1901 1,702 1,253 3,053 271 631 1,431 1,723 32.5

The first three parishes (Beaminster, Netherbury, and Bridport borough)
are typical of practically every West Dorset parish. They show an
increase to mid-century followed by a subsequent decline such that by
1901 the populations were below the 1801 figures.

Marshwood (M'wood) and Powerstock (P'stock) showed the greatest declines
in the area, their populations being almost halved over the last fifty
years. It is well known that there was mass emigration of people from
Marshwood to North America and to a lesser extent to Australasia. I
suspect that the same occurred in Powerstock although I haven't
investigated this.

The only two parishes to show increases were Allington (All'ton) and
Bradpole (B'pole), although Allington was also in decline by the end of
the century. This can almost certainly be explained by these places
being the sites (from c1820) of industrial 'hemp & flax' factories
involved with the production of ropes, twine, canvas, nets etc. Prior
to the opening of these factories many people in surrounding parishes
had done rope and twine spinning etc in their own homes as a cottage
industry. They lost out when the mechanised factories opened and this
probably contributed to the decline in their populations due to
emigration. (Other factories also opened in nearby Burton Bradstock.)

For comparison I have also included figures for England & Wales (in
millions), which show that the overall population increased nearly
four-fold in the same time period.

I haven't included the figures for the whole of Dorset (which showed a
small increase) since they were distorted by the influx of retired and
convalescent people to 'newly-discovered' fashionable Weymouth, and also
that part of Dorset adjacent to Bournemouth.

Hope you find the above of interest,

Diana

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