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At. the beginning of the present century (1801)
there were 128,833 persons living within the city
boundaries; and in the four succeeding decades the
numbers fluctuated between 121,124 (1811), and
125,065 (1821); but in the year 1851 it rose to
129,171.* This is the largest population of the City
during the present century, and it is perhaps the
densest on record; for it is in the proportion of
9 persons to every house, or 180 persons to an acre.
In the following year (1861) the number of the
population fell, according to the Registrar General's
Returns, to 112,063 persons, which is at the rate of
8.4 persons to each inhabited house, or 155 persons
to an acre; and then, at the census of 1871, the
number of the resident inhabitants of the City was
returned at only 74,732, which is less than sixtenths
of the population of 1851. It must not bo
forgotten, however, that the census of the City was
taken at a time when the number of the population
was at its very lowest; for at midnight on Sunday,
in the early part of April, the City is to a very largo
extent deserted. This fact is briefly alluded to by
the Registrar General in his Preliminary Report of
(ho Census of England and Wales for 1871, wherein
he says: "Thus it comes that the ancient and
venerable City of London, under the sceptre of the
Lord Mayor, associated with the liberties, the
* Mr. Simon, in his Annual Report for 1801, estimated it at 129,682.