4.3. How Long did they Live?

The general idea, that the infant (0-12 months) and child (13-60 months) death rates in England in the Industrial Revolution were much higher than in the preceding decades, is not true. The infant and child death rates were very high in England during the eighteenth century, around 170 / 1000 for infants and around 170 / 1000 for children, in the whole country. This compares with 150 / 1000 and 130 / 1000 for England in 1841. Manchester had 210 and 200 in 1841, Liverpool 220 and 220, and the rest of Lancashire somewhat less.

The death rates for under-fives in London decreased considerably during the eighteenth century:

“BIRTHS and DEATHS under 5 Years of Age, according to the “London Bills of Mortality”, for 100 years, in 5 Periods of 20 Years each; and the NUMBERS DYING under 5 Years out of 100 born:”

	1730-49	1750-69	1770-89	1790-1809	1810-29
Total Births	315,000	307,000	349,000	386,000	477,000
Total Deaths under 5 Years	235,000	198,000	180,000	159,000	151,000
Dying per Cent. under 5 Years	74.5	68.0	51.5	41.3	31.8

(T. R. Edmonds, On the Mortality of Infants in England, Lancet, Vol. I, 1835-36, London, p. 689; taken from the Mortality Bills of London)

We have some data from Dr. Roberton [sic] in his “Observations on the Mortality and Physical Management of Infants” (1827). He tells us that in the town of Manchester in 1773, the population was 27,000, and one out of 30 – children and adults – died annually (numbers from a Dr. Percival, who was active there at that time); 12 years earlier, the figure was one in 21, and one half of the children died under 5 years of age. 

He gives some tables of mortality of children, showing the deaths per age group as a percentage total of deaths in the year (Roberton, 1827, pp. 11-29).The following lines are selected, taking only the oldest data for each locality.

LONDON

Town	Years Bills of Mortality	Average deaths p. a.	Under the age of 1	Between 1 and 2	Between 2 and 5	Between 5 and 10	Total under 10
London	1786- 1793	19,600	22.00	10.68	9.99	3.91	46.58
Simple Average			22.00	10.68	9.99	3.91	46.58

LARGE TOWNS

Town	Years Bills of Mortality	Average deaths p. a.	Under the age of 1	Between 1 and 2	Between 2 and 5	Between 5 and 10	Total under 10
Liverpool	1812-1815	2,500	20.00	11.28	10.91	5.59	47.81
Glasgow	1783-1789	1,600	26.00	13.40	10.66	3.42	53.48
Manchester	1816-1823	1,100	26.59	13.81	14.78	4.47	59.65
Simple Average			24.20	12.83	12.12	4.49	53.64

SMALLER TOWNS 

Town	Years Bills of Mortality	Average Deaths p. a.	Under  the age of 1	Between 1 and 2	Between 2 and 5	Between 5 and 10	Total under 10
Chester	1772-1781	400	19.70	8.82	11.85	4.05	44.42
Carlisle	1779-1787	200	21.19	9.40	13.51	4.83	48.93
Warrington	1773-1781	300	24.09	14.41	12.83	3.79	55.12
Northampton	1735-1780	100	22.00	10.60	7.80	4.28	44.68
Simple Average			21.74	10.81	11.50	4.24	48.29

VILLAGE PARISHES

Town	Years Bills of Mortality	Average deaths p. a.	Under  the age of 1	Between 1 and 2	Between 2 and 5	Between 5 and 10	Total under 10
Spalding	1798-1811	100	35.64	4.30	4.45	3.75	48.14
Lymm	1817-1825	40	24.92	6.60	4.80	3.90	40.22
Eccles	1818-1825	500	24.00	11.46	10.92	2.96	49.34
Simple Average			28.19	7.45	6.72	3.54	45.90

AGRICULTURAL PARISHES

Town	Years Bills of Mortality	Average Deaths p. a.	Under  the age of 1	Between 1 and 2	Between 2 and 5	Between 5 and 10	Total under 10
Winwick	1812-1821	150	16.88	7.06	6.12	4.66	34.72
Grappenhall	1815-1825	40	20.38	5.05	7.30	2.26	34.99
Great Shefford	1747-1757	10	20.00	10.12	4.82	3.61	38.55
Ackworth	1757-1767	10	13.30	6.64	10.25	3.20	33.39
Holy Cross	1750-1759	30	15.17	5.17	9.65	7.93	37.92
Simple Average			17.14	6.81	7.63	4.33	35.91

We can convert this approximately to child deaths as a fraction of births per year, dividing by 1.3 for the factor of total births per year to total deaths in the year. If we express this as numbers per thousand, we then have figures with roughly the same definition as in sources with respect to the nineteenth century.   

LONDON

Town	Years Bills Of Mortality	Average deaths p. a.	Under the age of 1	Between 1 and 2	Between 2 and 5	Between 5 and 10	Total under 10
London	1786- 1793	19,600	169	82	77	30	358
Simple Average			169	82	77	30	358

LARGE TOWNS

Town	Years Bills of Mortality	Average deaths p. a.	Under the age of 1	Between 1 and 2	Between 2 and 5	Between 5 and 10	Total under 10
Liverpool	1812-1815	2,500	154	87	84	43	368
Glasgow	1783-1789	1,600	200	103	82	26	411
Manchester	1816-1823	1,100	204	106	114	34	458
Simple Average			186	99	93	34	412

SMALLER TOWNS 

Town	Years Bills of Mortality	Average deaths p. a.	Under the age of 1	Between 1 and 2	Between 2 and 5	Between 5 and 10	Total under 10
Chester	1772-1781	400	151	68	91	31	341
Carlisle	1779-1787	200	163	72	104	37	376
Warrington	1773-1781	300	185	111	99	29	424
Northampton	1735-1780	100	169	82	60	33	344
Simple Average			167	83	88	32	371

VILLAGE PARISHES

Town	Years Bills of Mortality	Average deaths p. a.	Under the age of 1	Between 1 and 2	Between 2 and 5	Between 5 and 10	Total under 10
Spalding	1798-1811	100	274	33	34	29	370
Lymm	1817-1825	40	192	51	37	30	309
Eccles	1818-1825	500	184	88	84	23	380
Simple Average			216	57	52	27	352

AGRICULTURAL PARISHES

Town	Years Bills of Mortality	Average deaths p. a.	Under the age of 1	Between 1 and 2	Between 2 and 5	Between 5 and 10	Total under 10
Winwick	1812-1821	150	130	53	47	36	266
Grappenhall	1815-1825	40	156	39	56	17	268
Great Shefford	1747-1757	10	154	78	37	28	297
Ackworth	1757-1767	10	102	51	78	25	256
Holy Cross	1750-1759	30	117	40	74	61	292
Simple Average			132	52	58	33	275

RESUMED DATA

Town type		Under the age of 1	Between 1 and 2	Between 2 and 5	Between 5 and 10	Total  under 10
London		169	82	77	30	358
Large towns		186	99	93	34	412
Smaller towns		167	83	88	32	371
Village parishes		216	57	52	27	352
Agricultural Parishes		132	52	58	33	275

To check if the death rate was particularly differentiated between manufacturing and agricultural areas, or possibly between large towns and small towns/villages, we can extract the data as to Population and as to Bills of Mortality, in the sections of Sir Frederick Eden’s “State of the Poor” (the following table includes all the towns and villages for which there was sufficient information).

County	Town	Population	Yearly Births	Yearly Burials	Per Cent	Per Cent
		Most recent	Average 1790-94	Average 1790-94
Bedfordshire	Dunstable	1,000	32	12	3.2	1.2
Buckingham	Buckingham	2,000	76	39	3.8	1.9
Buckingham	Winslow	1,100	38	24	3.5	2.2
Cumberland	Cumwhitton	450	12	7	2.7	1.6
Cumberland	Harrington	1,400	37	26	2.6	1.9
Cumberland	Kirkoswald	950	18	17	1.9	1.8
Derbyshire	Chesterfield	4,000	156	113	3.9	2.8
Derbyshire	Derby	8,000	182	154	2.3	1.9
Devon	Clyst. St. George	230	9	5	3.9	2.2
Devon	South Tawton	2,500	51	29	2.0	1.2
Devon	Tiverton	7,100	203	160	2.9	2.2
Dorset	Blandford	2,100	69	52	3.3	2.5
Durham	South Shields	15,000	351	347	2.3	2.3
Durham	Tanfield	2,000	73	69	3.6	3.4
Hampshire	Petersfield	1,000	45	29	4.5	2.9
Kent	Ashford	2,000	44	34	2.2	1.7
Kent	Cobham	560	15	14	2.6	2.5
Kent	Meopham	600	23	15	3.8	2.5
Lancashire	Bury	17,000	485	276	2.9	1.6
Lancashire	Lancaster	8,000	296	137	3.7	1.7
Lancashire	Liverpool	56,000	2,473	1,960	4.4	3.5
Lancashire	Manchester w/o Salford	50,000	2,599	1,712	5.2	3.4
Lancashire	Preston	7,000	171	233	2.4	3.3
Lancashire	Warrington	8,800	455	337	5.1	3.8
Leicester	Leicester	2,800	72	72	2.6	2.6
Lincolnshire	Louth	4,000	126	89	3.2	2.2
Lincolnshire	Spilsby	850	26	15	3.1	1.8
Lincolnshire	Swineshead	1550	65	47	4.2	3.0
Lincolnshire	Willoughby	400	9	8	2.2	2.0
Monmouthshire	Abergavenny	2,500	60	56	2.4	2.2
Northamptonshire	Brixworth	800	24	19	3.0	2.4
Northumberland	North Shields	10,000	350	350	3.5	3.5
Nottinghamshire	Newark	7,000	226	150	3.2	2.1
Nottinghamshire	Nottingham	22,000	806	517	3.7	2.3
Shropshire	Bishop’s Castle	1,350	38	25	2.8	1.9
Somersetshire	Minehead	1,200	36	24	3.0	2.0
Surrey	Farnham	3,000	141	87	4.7	2.9
Surrey	Reigate	2,000	72	50	3.6	2.5
Sussex	Winchelsea	550	22	10	4.0	1.8
Warwick	Southam	750	28	21	3.7	2.8
Westmoreland	Kendal	8,000	205	250	2.5	3.1
Westmoreland	Orton	1,500	33	18	2.4	1.6
Wiltshire	Trowbridge	7,000	134	148	1.9	2.1
Yorkshire	Great Driffield	1,600	40	29	2.5	1.8
Yorkshire	Kingston-upon-Hull	22,000	752	662	3.4	3.0
Yorkshire	Leeds	31,500	1,116	967	3.5	3.1
Yorkshire	Market-Weighton	1,200	37	24	3.1	2.0
Yorkshire	Sheffield	35,000	1,626	1,314	4.6	3.7
Yorkshire	Skipton	2,100	63	51	3.0	2.4
Yorkshire	Stokesly	1,600	53	44	3.3	2.8

It is very clear that the large, industrializing, towns had high figures of death rates; Liverpool, Manchester, Preston, Warrington, North Shields, Kingston-upon-Hull, Leeds, and Sheffield, are all above 3.0 %. What is not clear is if the reason is: size of town (overcrowding and bad sanitation), industrial processes, or increased formal employment of women (less time to look after their little children). The question arises because the large towns were not yet industrialized; not even in Manchester were there any mills before 1792.

Herewith we show a specimen of a Bill of Mortality (Liverpool, 1795-96), from Sir Frederick Eden, “State of the Poor”.

The excessive number of deaths (more than the births) will have been due to the shortage of cereals in this year.

To see what was happening in Manchester, Liverpool, and Leeds, with reference to the living conditions of the people from 1770 to 1800, we can calculate the birth rates and death rates from the Bills of Mortality in the “State of the Poor”; the numbers of inhabitants are interpolations from a few real enumerations.

Manchester, Township

	Persons	Births	Burials	Birth Rate %	Death Rate %
1770	19,400	1,050	988	5.41	5.09
1771	20,400	1,169	993	5.73	4.87
1772	21,400	1,127	904	5.27	4.22
1773	22,400	1,168	923	5.21	4.12
1774	23,400	1,245	958	5.32	4.09
1775	24,400	1,359	835	5.57	3.26
1776	25,600	1,241	1,220	4.85	4.76
1777	26,800	1,513	864	5.64	3.22
1778	28,000	1,449	975	5.17	3.48
1779	29,300	1,464	1,288	5.00	4.39
1780	30,600	1,566	993	5.12	3.24
1781	32,000	1,591	1,370	4.97	4.28
1782	33,400	1,678	984	5.02	2.94
1783	35,000	1,615	1,496	4.61	4.27
1784	36,600	1,958	1,175	5.35	3.21
1785	38,000	1,942	1,734	5.11	4.56
1786	39,400	2,319	1,282	5.88	3.25
1787	41,200	2,256	1,761	5.47	4.27
1788	43,000	2,391	1,637	5.56	3.81
1789	44,500	2,487	1,788	5.59	4.02
1790	46,000	2,576	1,940	5.60	4.22
1791	47,500	2,960	2,286	6.23	4.81
1792	49,700	2,660	2,122	5.35	4.27
1793	51,900	2,579	2,223	4.97	4.28
1794	54,000	2,345	2,572	4.34	4.76
1795	56,500	2,296	2,661	4.06	4.70
1796	58,500	2,532	2,095	4.32	3.58
1797	60,500	2,767	2,322	4.57	3.83
1798	62,500	2,789	2,553	4.46	4.08
1799	65,000	2,828	2,625	4.35	4.03
1800	67,500	2,590	2,367	3.83	3.50
1801	70,000

(1770-1793, Eden, State of the Poor, Vol. II, p. 355); (1794-1800, Census 1801, Parish Register Abstract)

            

Dr. Percival, who carried out an informal “enumeration” of Manchester in 1773, gives us his comments, as to why the death rate was decreasing:

“It is pleasing to observe, that, notwithstanding the enlargement of Manchester, there has been a sensible improvement, in the healthiness and longevity of its inhabitants; for the proportion of deaths is now considerably less, than in 1757. But this is chiefly to be ascribed, as Dr. Price has justly observed, to the large accretion of new settlers from the country. For as these usually come in the prime of life, they must raise the proportion of inhabitants to the deaths, and also to births and weddings to the burials, higher than they would otherwise be. However, exclusive of this consideration, there is good reason to believe, that Manchester is now more healthy than formerly. The new streets are wide and spacious, the poor have larger and more commodious dwellings, and the increase of trade affords them better cloathing and diet, than they before enjoyed. I may add too, that the late improvements in medicine have been highly favourable to the preservation of life. The cool regimen in fevers, and in the small pox, the free admission of air, attention to cleanliness, and the general use of antiseptic remedies and diet, have certainly mitigated the violence, and lessened the mortality of some of the most dangerous and malignant distempers, to which mankind are incident.” (pp. 5-6)

(Percival, Observations on the State of Population in Manchester, and other adjacent Places, 1773)

By 1790 there were only 8 cotton mills in Manchester, none with steam power, and by 1800 there 29 cotton mills, 6 steam powered. All of these were outside the continuous built-up area (Nevell, 2003, Chapter 3, table 3.1 and map 3.14) 

Liverpool, parish only

Year	Persons	Births	Burials	Birth Rate %	Death Rate %
1770	31,400	1,347	1,562	4.29	4.97
1771	32,400	1,470	951	4.53	2.93
1772	33,400	1,375	1,103	4.11	3.30
1773	34,400	1,397	1,109	4.06	3.22
1774	35,500	1,451	1,166	4.09	3.28
1775	36,600	1,498	1,352	4.09	3.69
1776	37,700	1,541	1,113	4.09	2.94
1777	38,900	1,538	1,186	3.95	3.05
1778	40,100	1,616	1,511	4.03	3.77
1779	41,400	1,648	1,489	3.98	3.60
1780	42,700	1,709	1,544	4.00	3.61
1781	44,000	1,760	1,383	4.00	3.14
1782	45,200	1,766	1,687	3.91	3.73
1783	46,400	1,872	1,696	4.03	3.65
1784	47,600	2,068	1,635	4.34	3.42
1785	48,800	2,007	1,778	4.11	3.64
1786	50,200	2,143	1,772	4.27	3.53
1787	51,600	2,267	1,773	4.39	3.43
1788	53,000	2,332	1,564	4.40	2.95
1789	54,500	2,366	1,662	4.34	3.05
1790	56,000	2,244	1,763	4.00	3.15
1791	57,600	2,491	2,166	4.32	3.76
1792	59,200	2,606	1,767	4.40	2.98
1793	61,000	2,500	1,464	4.09	2.40
1794	62,800	2,527	2,009	4.02	3.20
1795	64,600	2,252	2,394	3.48	3.70
1796	66,000	2,122	1,609	3.21	2.43
1797	67,800	2,382	1,496	3.51	2.20
1798	69,600	2,464	2,250	3.54	3.23
1799	71,400	2,664	2,152	3.82	3.01
1800	73,200	2,903	2,782	3.80	3.80
1801	75,000

(1770-1795, Eden, State of the Poor, Vol. II, p. 337); (1796-1800, Census 1801, Parish Register Abstract)

Leeds, township only

Year	Persons	Births	Burials	Birth Rate %	Death Rate %
1770	15,400	552	570	3.58	3.70
1771	15,700	610	518	3.88	3.30
1772	16,000	586	528	3.66	3.30
1773	16,300	614	647	3.77	3.97
1774	16,700	543	466	3.25	2.79
1775	17,100	625	558	3.65	3.26
1776	17,500	637	465	3.64	2.65
1777	17,900	635	618	3.54	3.45
1778	18,300	709	635	3.87	3.47
1779	18,700	613	667	3.27	3.57
1780	19,100	673	576	3.52	3.01
1781	19,500	654	653	3.35	3.34
1782	19,900	656	581	3.29	2.92
1783	20,300	639	665	3.15	3.27
1784	20,700	740	596	3.57	2.88
1785	21,200	763	707	3.60	3.33
1786	21,700	815	636	3.75	2.93
1787	22,200	773	702	3.48	3.16
1788	22,700	813	864	3.58	3.81
1789	23,200	873	650	3.76	2.80
1790	23,700	999	953	4.21	4.02
1791	24,200	1,003	677	4.14	2.79
1792	24,700	1,025	916	4.15	3.70
1793	25,200	1,061	1,107	4.21	4.39
1801	30,700

(1770-1793, Eden, State of the Poor, Vol. III, p. 862)

Leeds, Town and out-townships

Year	Persons	Births	Burials	Birth Rate %	Death Rate %
1794	46,000	1,545	1,394	3.35	3.03
1795	47,000	1,567	1,253	3.33	2.66
1796	48,000	1,529	1,392	3.18	2.90
1797	49,000	1,662	1,348	3.39	2.75
1798	50,000	1,766	1,332	3.53	2.66
1799	51,000	1,748	1,321	3.42	2.59
1800	52,000	1,742	1,428	3.35	2.75
1801	53,200

(1794-1800, Census 1801, Parish Register Abstract)

Deaths in Childhood: Chester 1772-1774 and Carlisle 1779-1789

		Chester			Carlisle
		Under 1 Year	1 to 5 Years		Under 5 Years
Small pox		55	140		225
Consumption		4	12		34
Convulsions		139	55		10
Whooping cough		15	16		18
Weakness of infancy		20	27		204
Measles					28
Scarlet fever					31
Thrush		1			63
Infantile remittent fever					19
Other and unknown		21	28		74
Total		254	278		706

(“Convulsions” were generally caused by extreme diarrhea or by fevers)

(Roberton, 1827, pp. 84-85)

Small pox and measles

It is not true that the introduction of vaccination against smallpox reduced considerably the infant death rates in general. A large number of children who would earlier have died before 2 years of age from smallpox, survived to the stage of 2 to 5 years, but then died from measles. 

Deaths before 2 years of age

Glasgow	Smallpox	Measles		London	Smallpox	Measles
1783-1788	19.55	0.93		1785-1791	8.05	1.59
1789-1794	18.22	1.17		1792-1798	9.45	1.26
1795-1800	18.70	2.10		1799-1805	7.55	2.39
1801-1806	8.90	3.92		1806-1812	6.21	4.86
1807-1812	3.90	10.76		1813-1819	3.54	3.99

(Roberton, 1827, pp. 49-51)

The people who were born in the late 18^th century, and supposing that they survived childhood, could expect to live to a good age.  Comparing data from births in 1770, etc., and persons living in 1841 according to the Census, we can show that 23 per cent of persons from 1770 were still alive in 1841, that is, they reached an age of 70.

Year	Baptisms		Year	Age 1841	Number Living		Per cent Surviving
1770	207,000		1841	70	48,000		23.6
1780	222,000		1841	60	83,000		37.4
1790	249,000		1841	50	127,000		51.0

(Births extracted from: Marshall, 1832, p. 61)

(Number Living extracted from: Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons, p. 286: Statement of the Ages of Persons living in England and Wales, as ascertained by the Census of 1841)

The doctors and intellectuals of the late eighteenth century did not have enough long-term data to calculate an expectation of life. What they used was the “value of life” or “average of mortality”, which was the total population of the town in the year, divided by the number of deaths registered in the year (child and adult). This gave a good approximation to the average expected age at death, so long there was not a large growth in the population. The parameter was easy to calculate, and could be used for comparisons between cities or between countries; the increase in this number through the years, would show the improvement in health conditions. 

In the course of collecting the infant and child death rates for a number of towns, Dr. Roberton was also able to find some data as to the “value of life” in each case, and its progression through the years.

For Glasgow, Dr Roberton (following Dr. Watt, official of the town) gives us numbers of 26.7 for 1780-1785, 27.9 for 1786-1791, 35.2 for 1792-1801, and 40.8 for 1802-1811. For Liverpool we have 39.3 for 1811-1821. For Manchester, there are some individual data of 21 in 1761 and 30 in 1773. In Warrington, the registers give 26.5 for 1773-1781, and 37 for 1811-1821. For Chester in 1774, the figure was 31.0; for Carlisle in 1779-1787 it was 40. As to the smaller units, Holy Cross (1750-1780) was 33.1, Ackworth (1747-1767) was 55.3, Great Shefford (1747-1757) was 51.2, Spalding (1798-1811) was 31.3, Eccles (1818-1825) was 48.3, Lymm (1821) was 56.5,   

The figures from the Bills of Mortality (yearly or monthly official reports of births and deaths) in London remained fairly constant through the eighteenth century, from 34.0 in 1701-10 to 37.2 in 1791-1800. The “value of life” in the nineteenth century improved from 40 in 1841-1850 to 52 in 1891-1900. 

Lifespans were fairly long, once the child had passed the 5-year hurdle. According to later analysis, a child of 10 years old in 1770 had an average expected age at death of 47, and a man or woman of 30 would expect on average to live to 54. 

(Brownlee, John; The Health of London in the Eighteenth Century, 1925; whole document)

For the whole of England and Wales, the “annual mortality” was 40 in 1780, 45 in 1790, 47 in 1801, 50 in 1811, and 58 in 1821 (Hawkins, 1829, p. 16).