E. A. Wrigley – författare

The industrial revolution transformed the productive power of societies. It did so by vastly increasing the individual productivity, thus delivering whole populations from poverty. In this new account by one of the world's acknowledged authorities the central issue is not simply how the revolution began but still more why it did not quickly end. The answer lay in the use of a new source of energy. Pre-industrial societies had access only to very limited energy supplies. As long as mechanical energy came principally from human or animal muscle and heat energy from wood, the maximum attainable level of productivity was bound to be low. Exploitation of a new source of energy in the form of coal provided an escape route from the constraints of an organic economy but also brought novel dangers. Since this happened first in England, its experience has a special fascination, though other countries rapidly followed suit.

The early English censuses (1801-1851) provide a mine of information about England in the early nineteenth century but the totals which they contain needs to be treated with care. They contain many arithmetical and printing errors, a significant number of returns are missing, and a unit with the same name in successive censuses might have changed boundaries. There are also problems of coverage. Infants and young children were substantially under-reported and men in the army, navy, and merchant marine were not included, which affected the censuses of the Napoleonic war period significantly. Moreover, in 1851 the basic units of the census were changed. Where previously totals for the parish, the hundred and the county were returned, in 1851 the units were the parish, the registration sub-district, the registration district, and the registration county. Even the national unit changed. Dozens of Welsh parishes became English and an even larger number of English parishes became Welsh.The various sources of error, deficiency, and incomparability are described in the book and two series of tables are provided. The first series uses the 'old' units of the first five censuses; the second uses the 'new' units created in 1851. For both series male, female, and total populations are given for all six censuses at each census date. Each series exists in two versions. The first uses the totals to be found in the census volumes, corrected only for arithmetic and printing errors. The second carries the corrections further to offset the under-recording of infants and young children, the absence of men in the army, navy, and merchant marine, and to overcome the problems posed by the absence of men in militia camps on census night. Some tables are very large. The table for the smallest units consists of almost 15,000 places. The large tables are not printed but are provided on an accompanying CD.

English Population History from Family Reconstitution 1580-1837 is the most important single contribution to English historical demography since Wrigley and Schofield's Population History of England. It represents the culmination of work carried out at the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure over the past quarter-century. This work demonstrates the value of the technique of family reconstitution as a means of obtaining accurate and detailed information about fertility, morality, and nuptiality in the past. Indeed, more is now known about many aspects of English demography in the parish register period than about the post-1837 period when the Registrar-General collected and published information. Using data from 26 parishes, the authors show clearly that their results are representative not only of the demographic situation of the parishes from which the data were drawn, but also of the country as a whole. Some very surprising features of the behaviour of past populations are brought to light for the first time.

Sir Tony Wrigley's classic regional study of industrial development and demographic change in the Austrasian coalfield belt (stretching from Pas-De-Calais in the West to the Ruhr in the East) was first published in 1959. Its first part deals with the circumstances which encouraged more rapid industrial growth in some areas while inhibiting in others, and with the relationship between regional economic growth and the increase of industrial population. The second part deals with the demographic history of the coalfield industrial areas; their relation to the sociology of those areas; and the sources of the population growth which took place in them. In both parts the discussion centres on the contrast between the coalfield industrial areas and the three national units of France, Belgium and Germany on the one hand; and on the other on the contrasts which existed within the coalfield industrial areas themselves. Industrial Growth and Population Change deliberately strays across the conventional boundaries of social scientific analysis, embracing economic history, historical geography, demography and sociology. The underlying thesis is that economic historians have tended too readily to suppose that the national entity is the appropriate unit of study. Regional or local analysis is sometimes equally or more revealing about the nature of major changes taking place and the reasons for them.

The aim of this book is to demonstrate both the difficulties and the opportunities which the accumulation of statistical information in economically advanced countries offers for studying nineteenth-century society in depth. The chief emphasis is upon quantitative methods of analysis. The main focus of the attention is the census - what information was required on census night; how the information was collected; how accurately and completely population characteristics were recorded, the problems which arise in attempting to use either the published census volumes or the enumerators' books; and the techniques which have proved useful in analysis. Related topics covered include the study of family structure, the use of information about occupation, the measurement of migration, criminal statistics, educational provision and sampling in historical research.

This was the first paperback edition of a classic work of recent English historiography, first published in 1981. In analysing the population of a country over several centuries, the authors qualify, confirm or overturn traditional assumptions and marshal a mass of statistical material into a series of clear, lucid arguments about past patterns of demographic behaviour and their relationship to economic trends. The Population History of England presents basic demographic statistics - monthly totals of births, deaths and marriages - and uses them in conjunction with new methods of analysis to determine population size, gross production rates, expectation of life at birth, age structure and net migration totals. The results make it possible to construct a new model of the interplay of economic and demographic variables in England before and during the industrial picture of English population trends between 1541 and 1871 is a remarkable achievement and in a short preface, the authors consider the debate engendered by the book, the impact of which has been felt far beyond the traditional disciplinary confines of historical demography.

The Industrial Revolution brought into being a distinct world, a world of greater affluence, longevity and mobility, an urban rather than a rural world. But the great surge of economic growth was balanced against severe constraints on the opportunities for expansion, revealing an intriguing paradox. This book, published to considerable critical acclaim, explores the paradox and attempts to provide a distinct model' of the changes that comprised the industrial revolution.

By the early nineteenth century England was very different economically from its continental neighbours. It was wealthier, growing more rapidly, more heavily urbanised, and far less dependent upon agriculture. A generation ago it was normal to attribute these differences to the 'industrial revolution' and to suppose that this was mainly the product of recent change, but no longer. Current estimates suggest only slow growth during the period from 1760-1840. This implies that the economy was much larger and more advanced by 1760 than had previously been supposed and suggests that growth in the preceding century or two must have been decisive in bringing about the 'divergence' of England. Sir E. A. Wrigley, the leading historian of industrial Britain, here examines the issues which arise in this connection from three viewpoints: economic growth; the transformation of the urban-rural balance; and demographic change in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

English Population History from Family Reconstitution 1580-1837 is the most important single contribution to English historical demography since Wrigley and Schofield's Population History of England. It represents the culmination of work carried out at the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure over the past quarter-century. This work demonstrates the value of the technique of family reconstitution as a means of obtaining accurate and detailed information about fertility, morality, and nuptiality in the past. Indeed, more is now known about many aspects of English demography in the parish register period than about the post-1837 period when the Registrar-General collected and published information. Using data from 26 parishes, the authors show clearly that their results are representative not only of the demographic situation of the parishes from which the data were drawn, but also of the country as a whole. Some very surprising features of the behaviour of past populations are brought to light for the first time.

The industrial revolution transformed the productive power of societies. It did so by vastly increasing the individual productivity, thus delivering whole populations from poverty. In this new account by one of the world's acknowledged authorities the central issue is not simply how the revolution began but still more why it did not quickly end. The answer lay in the use of a new source of energy. Pre-industrial societies had access only to very limited energy supplies. As long as mechanical energy came principally from human or animal muscle and heat energy from wood, the maximum attainable level of productivity was bound to be low. Exploitation of a new source of energy in the form of coal provided an escape route from the constraints of an organic economy but also brought novel dangers. Since this happened first in England, its experience has a special fascination, though other countries rapidly followed suit.

By the early nineteenth century England was very different economically from its continental neighbours. It was wealthier, growing more rapidly, more heavily urbanised, and far less dependent upon agriculture. A generation ago it was normal to attribute these differences to the 'industrial revolution' and to suppose that this was mainly the product of recent change, but no longer. Current estimates suggest only slow growth during the period from 1760-1840. This implies that the economy was much larger and more advanced by 1760 than had previously been supposed and suggests that growth in the preceding century or two must have been decisive in bringing about the 'divergence' of England. Sir E. A. Wrigley, the leading historian of industrial Britain, here examines the issues which arise in this connection from three viewpoints: economic growth; the transformation of the urban-rural balance; and demographic change in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Volumes 2 and 3 of the Industrial Revolutionseleven part set (Industrial Revolution in Britain vol I and II) present over thirty of the articles which have best illuminated Britain's Industrial revolution, and cover four main areas: the concept of the Industrial Revolution, and the central themes of land, labour and capital. They provide a way of exploring historians' changing approaches to the first Industrial Revolution. A substantial introduction sets the articles into their conceptual, evidential and histiographical context and directs readers to recent work.

Volumes 2 and 3 of the Industrial Revolutions eleven part set, (Industrial Revolution in Britain Vol I and II) present over thirty of the articles which have best illuminated Britain's Industrial revolution, and cover four main areas: the concept of the Industrial Revolution, and the central themes of land, labour and capital. They provide a way of exploring historians' changing approaches to the first Industrial Revolution. A substantial introduction sets the articles into their conceptual, evidential and histiographical context and directs readers to recent work.

A collection of eight volumes of books which contain all the known published writings and variant readings of Thomas Malthus. Malthus is most famous as the inventor of a simple equation between population and food supply and his work is seen as the foundation for population studies.

A collection of eight volumes of books which contain all the known published writings and variant readings of Thomas Malthus. Malthus is most famous as the inventor of a simple equation between population and food supply and his work is seen as the foundation for population studies.

A collection of eight volumes of books which contain all the known published writings and variant readings of Thomas Malthus. Malthus is most famous as the inventor of a simple equation between population and food supply and his work is seen as the foundation for population studies.

A collection of eight volumes of books which contain all the known published writings and variant readings of Thomas Malthus. Malthus is most famous as the inventor of a simple equation between population and food supply and his work is seen as the foundation for population studies.

A collection of eight volumes of books which contain all the known published writings and variant readings of Thomas Malthus. Malthus is most famous as the inventor of a simple equation between population and food supply and his work is seen as the foundation for population studies.

A collection of eight volumes of books which contain all the known published writings and variant readings of Thomas Malthus. Malthus is most famous as the inventor of a simple equation between population and food supply and his work is seen as the foundation for population studies.

A collection of eight volumes of books which contain all the known published writings and variant readings of Thomas Malthus. Malthus is most famous as the inventor of a simple equation between population and food supply and his work is seen as the foundation for population studies.

A collection of eight volumes of books which contain all the known published writings and variant readings of Thomas Malthus. Malthus is most famous as the inventor of a simple equation between population and food supply and his work is seen as the foundation for population studies.

A collection of eight volumes of books which contain all the known published writings and variant readings of Thomas Malthus. Malthus is most famous as the inventor of a simple equation between population and food supply and his work is seen as the foundation for population studies.

A collection of eight volumes of books which contain all the known published writings and variant readings of Thomas Malthus. Malthus is most famous as the inventor of a simple equation between population and food supply and his work is seen as the foundation for population studies.

A collection of eight volumes of books which contain all the known published writings and variant readings of Thomas Malthus. Malthus is most famous as the inventor of a simple equation between population and food supply and his work is seen as the foundation for population studies.

A collection of eight volumes of books which contain all the known published writings and variant readings of Thomas Malthus. Malthus is most famous as the inventor of a simple equation between population and food supply and his work is seen as the foundation for population studies.

A collection of eight volumes of books which contain all the known published writings and variant readings of Thomas Malthus. Malthus is most famous as the inventor of a simple equation between population and food supply and his work is seen as the foundation for population studies.

A collection of eight volumes of books which contain all the known published writings and variant readings of Thomas Malthus. Malthus is most famous as the inventor of a simple equation between population and food supply and his work is seen as the foundation for population studies.

A collection of eight volumes of books which contain all the known published writings and variant readings of Thomas Malthus. Malthus is most famous as the inventor of a simple equation between population and food supply and his work is seen as the foundation for population studies.

A collection of eight volumes of books which contain all the known published writings and variant readings of Thomas Malthus. Malthus is most famous as the inventor of a simple equation between population and food supply and his work is seen as the foundation for population studies.