Fertility in the 1911 census
For the first time, the government included a section on ‘fertility in marriage’ in the 1911 census.
The decreasing birth rate, the amount of people emigrating and the general poor health of the population were causing the government concern. It wanted to find out what potential there was for the future workforce as this would be essential to develop Britain’s industrial standing.
The following are some of the trends in fertility and marriage from the 1911 census taken from Changing Family Size in England and Wales, Place, Class and Demography, 1891-1911 by Eilidh Garrett, Alice Reid, Kevin Schürer and Simon Szreter and published by Cambridge University Press.
Marriage trends
The percentage of women marrying in 1911 was falling and the age at marriage was increasing. Interestingly, eight per cent of first-time brides in 1911 were pregnant before they got married and illegitimacy was in decline due to pressure for couples to marry when the pregnancy was apparent.
Spousal co-residency
The 1911 census shows that 7.4% of married women weren’t residing with their husbands on census night compared to 5.2% of men. Potential reasons for this include men being at sea or in the army, and women who had children illegitimately pretending that their non-existent husband was away.
Marriage duration
Years of marriage duration tended to be inaccurate in long-term marriages and marriages of less than a year which could be rounded up to a year (especially when the child of these marriages was illegitimate).
Exaggeration of length of marriage
Despite the fact that the heading of the column on the census clearly stated that marriages of less than a year should be recorded as ‘under one’, there was a shortfall of these marriages recorded. This could have been because couples tended to record the length of their marriage by their next anniversary rather than the previous. The Registrar-General, however, suggested that people were sometimes deliberately generous with regard to the length of their marriage to hide illegitimate births and pre-nuptial pregnancy.
Infant mortality
Up to 20% of conceptions resulted in miscarriages and infant mortality was generally high, which paints a grim picture of women trying to bring up healthy children. Perhaps unsurprisingly, infant mortality was less common in households with more rooms and in those with a servant. Infant mortality increased when women had children when they were younger and at shorter intervals.
This information adds a definite level of colour to the census and helps to build the picture of how life was in 1911.
Tags: 1911 census, fertility in 1911, infant mortality in 1911, marriage trends in 1911, spousal co-residency
September 2nd, 2010 at 7:20 pm
When I did try your site I found it to be unhelpful for Scottish records, and as my family is 98% scottish I did’nt find it a lot of use to me.
September 3rd, 2010 at 7:52 am
i found my wells, wise, and worton families thefirst two boththen loved in whiston street shoreditch haggerston the wortons were in hoxton i believelaterthey moved into talavera place that while it is now gone used to be between whiston street and the regents canal its where iwas bornon 1.12.1936,
Youwllnote on the 1911 that william wells who was my father did much latermarry mymother minnie violet maddox who did live with her family in 18 morning lane but was not born in 1911 but in 1912they married in 1935 in st.johns hackney william wells had put downhe lived with his wife on the certificaie thiswasdone so he could marry in my wifesprish andnot have the extra expence of having pay for the banns to read in his own parish to
September 3rd, 2010 at 7:54 am
i found my wells, wise, and worton families thefirst two boththen loved in whiston street shoreditch haggerston the wortons were in hoxton i believelaterthey moved into talavera place that while it is now gone used to be between whiston street and the regents canal its where iwas bornon 1.12.1936,
Youwllnote on the 1911 that william wells who was my father did much latermarry mymother minnie violet maddox who did live with her family in 18 morning lane but was not born in 1911 but in 1912they married in 1935 in st.johns hackney william wells had put downhe lived with his wife on the certificaie thiswasdone so he could marry in my wifesprish andnot have the extra expence of having to pay for the banns to be read in his own parish to
September 3rd, 2010 at 7:55 am
i found my wells, wise, and worton families thefirst two boththen loved in whiston street shoreditch haggerston the wortons were in hoxton i believelaterthey moved into talavera place that while it is now gone used to be between whiston street and the regents canal its where iwas bornon 1.12.1936,
Youwllnote on the 1911 that william wells who was my father did much latermarry mymother minnie violet maddox who did live with her family in 18 morning lane but was not born in 1911 but in 1912they married in 1935 in st.johns hackney william wells had put downhe lived with his wife on the certificaie thiswasdone so he could marry in my wifes parish andnot have the extra expence of having to pay for the banns to be read in his own parish to
September 3rd, 2010 at 9:16 am
l echo Elizabeth Gilchirsts remark about the lack of Scottish records on your site. My sister-in- law, herself a born and bred Scot, told me that Scotland itself likes to hold on to their records. l do not know if this is correct or not.
It makes my research a bit more costlier though.
September 3rd, 2010 at 2:26 pm
I have enjoyed finding many ancestors and relations, and found the search options easy to use. Also, the opportunity to record transcription errors is good. I was amused to find a relative claiming to have been married 12 years, thus appearing to legitimise their daughter born in 1899. They in fact married in 1901.
September 3rd, 2010 at 3:38 pm
Should have read my father put my mother addreess as his so he avoided paying for the banns to be read in his own parish that i believe was a common thing and possibly still happens now I now believe my worton kin went to the usa in 1936 but left there children in this country
September 4th, 2010 at 10:15 am
By finding my grandfather’s (William Elkin) 1911 census return it helped to establish the information I had found via other records was correct. It also told me of 5 other childbirths who had died in infancy. I have been able to trace the birth and death records of 4 of the 5. By obtaining the certificates it has also given me an insight into life in those early 1900s as 2 of them died of tuberculosis, probably from the use of unpasteurised milk.
September 5th, 2010 at 3:47 pm
For scottish records go to http://www.Scotlandspeople.gov.uk. you can search the scottish records for free there and if you get a match fior 1 credit (20p) you can view the index results of your search.
If you can then identify the correct record and it is bith over 100 years ago, marriage over 75 years or death over 50 years then for 5 credits (£1) you can view a scan of the actual record which you can print or save to your computer.
This means if you are looking for historical records then it is much cheaper to get the records that you need from Scotland, rather than from the English / Welsh equivalent
September 5th, 2010 at 5:33 pm
I find the 1911 census incredibly helpful but then I use it alongside other websites like freebmd.
I especially like the fact that the number of years marriage is mentioned as it sometimes helps me locate the marriage if I hadn’t found it already and the number of living children as I sometimes find that a child disappears between census’ and I do not know whether is it death or not so knowing how many children did not survive can lead me to then search for deaths of the missing ones.
The only thing I find is that I want to go further once I have found someone on the 1911 census and that won’t happen for a long time until the 100 year rule is up so it is almost frustrating to find something.
I suppose the benifit I have is that having a subscription to findmypast and having effectively free access to the 1911 census means I can keep looking even if I get several bad matches. When I used to pay for each record it could be rather tiresome when you constantly had to top up and ended up spending £30 for only 1 or 2 matches.
I think the census’ online is a wonderful feature as it can be difficult to find the time to visit record offices or it can be a bit of a trek depending how close you live. As for Scottish relatives, I would suggest if the 1911 website does not help, that people try googling Scottish census’ and following links. It is frustrating but until you attempt to transcribe records (as I have done in the past) you cannot appreaciate the time and effort it takes to put this information on one website and I think we should all be grateful for what is currently available and wait patiently for anything further.
Just my humble opinion
September 13th, 2010 at 5:30 pm
I have found 1911 census very good and easy to use but I am unable to find my husbands grandfather and his family in 1911, they were there in 1901 and I know that they were there in 1917 because his grandmother was at him birth. In 1901 George A Scott 1865, Jane Scott 1864, Children - Mabel N 1889, Ethel M 1890, Percy Wm 1895and Berty s 1897 ( Berty was killed in 1917 in France ) Mabel was my Husbands Mother. Can anyone throw some light on their whereabouts?