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30
CLAPHAM.
Availing myself of the statistics of the late Census, I
here reproduce a form of Table made use of in my report
of 1861, with the view of showing the several additions
that have been made to the population of this Sub-district
in the seven decennial intervals, from 1801 to 1871.
This Table cannot prove otherwise than interesting to the
inhabitants of this Parish, inasmuch as it marks the
gradual rise of the locality from a mere village of some
4,000 inhabitants, to a large and important township
having, at the present time, a population of 27,348!
Population. 1801. 1811. 1821. 1831. 1841. 1851. 1861. 1871.
Males 1,675 2,150 3,124 4,412 5,214 6,970 8,857 11,886
Females 2,189 2,933 4,027 5,546 6,892 9,320 12,033 15,462
Total 3,864 5,083 7,151 9,958 12,106 16,290 20,890 27,348
In assuming the population in some of my former
reports, the estimates I made were not, I may observe,
very wide of the mark. The increase in the last ten
years of 6,458, judging from the large number of newdwellings
that have lately sprung up within the Parish,
is no more than what might have been reasonably
anticipated.
The following Table, which I have annually made use
of, shows, as usual, the exact number of births, deaths,
and marriages that have taken place in the past year, and
in the ten preceding years. The most striking feature
of this Table is that the marriages have been much fewer
in the past year than in any year since 1860—a circumstance
very difficult to account for, unless it is upon the
supposition that the dearness of food of late, or bad
seasons for trade, have deterred many from entering the
marriage state who would otherwise have done so.