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Office of the Board of Works, Whitechapel District,
No. 15, Great Alie Street,
Whitechapel, E.,
February 21st, 1887.
Gentlemen,
In the Registrar-General's Annual Report for 1885,
which has recently been received, I notice several curious and
important observations to which I propose briefly to allude as a
fitting sequel to my last report, before commencing that for the
year 1886.
Referring to marriages, the Registrar-General quotes an oftrepeated
theory—that marriages increase as the price of food
diminishes., and he then proceeds to prove the fallacy of this
doctrine by statistics extending over a period of twenty-five years.
A suggestion is thrown out that the marriage-rate fluatuates with
the exports of British goods, rather than with the cheapness of
food, depending in reality upon the amount of wages received.
Some very curious figures are produced, showing the mean age at
marriage amongst various classes and persons ; thus, whilst miners
marry at 23½ years of age, and labourers at 25, commercial clerks
do not increase their responsibility in this respect until a year
later, and professional men wait until they are almost 3I before
venturing upon matrimony.
The last information which I extract upon this subject,
indicates the enormous advance in education amongst marrying
people, as, during the year, 11-8 per cent. of the newly-married
were unable to sign the register, whilst in 1870 double that
number, and in 1855 treble that number, were illiterates.
The birth-rate during 1885, was the lowest recorded since
1848, and was equal to 32-5 per 1,000 for the United Kingdom.
With a single exception, the rate has fallen continuously, year by
year, since 1876.