Enumeration Abstract
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THE Act which was passed at the close of the Year 1800, "for taking an Account "of the Population of Great Britain, and of the increase or Diminution thereof,' having now been repeated, after an interval of Ten Years, a comparison of the Results of these Two National Investigations seems to be required, not only as the Population Abstracts of 1801 and 1811 may hereafter be referred to in connection with each other, but because a large Volume, consisting chiefly of Figures, cannot be readily and effectually consulted without such previous explanation as may serve to show the Method and Order pursued in compiling and digesting the subject-matter both of the ENUMERATION Abstract and of the PARISH REGISTER Abstract. THE Questions, by means of which the Number of Houses, Families, and Persons was to be ascertained, were Seven in number; Viz. QUESTIONS addressed to the OVERSEERS in England; and to the SCHOOLMASTERS in Scotland; Who are respectively required to take an Account of the Resident Population, by proceeding from House to House on the
Twenty-seventh Day of May One thousand eight hundred and eleven, and oil the Days immediately subsequent thereto, if one Day shall not be sufficient; and they are also required to specify in Writing the Name of the Parish or Place in the Schedule, and whether it be usually called a Parish, Township, The thing, Quarter, or by what other Denomination.
1st. How many Inhabited Houses are there in your Parish, Township, or Place; and by how many Families are they occupied? 2nd. How many Houses are now building, and therefore not yet inhabited? 3d. How many other Houses are uninhabited? 4th. What Number of Families in your Parish, Township, or Place, are chiefly employed in and maintained by Agriculture; how many Families are chiefly employed in and maintained by Trade, Manufactures, or Handicraft; and how many Families" are not comprised in either of the two preceding Classes? N.B. The total Number of Families in Answer to this Question, must correspond with the Number of Families in Answer to the 1st Question.
5th. How many Persons (including Children of whatever Age) are there actually found within the Limits of your Parish, Township, or Place, at the Time of taking this Account
, distinguishing Males and Females, and exclusive
of Men actually serving in His Majesty's Regular Forces, in the Old Militia, or in any Embodied
Local Militia, and exclusive
of Seamen either in His Majesty's Service or belonging to Registered Vessels? 6th. Referring to the Number of Persons in 1801, To what Guise do you attribute any remarkable Difference in the Number at present? 7th. Are there any other Matters, which you may think it necessary to remark, in Explanation of your Answers to any of the preceding Questions? Similar Questions had been-asked under the authority of the Population Act of 1801; excepting only that in the Act of 1811 the Question regarding "UNINHABITED HOUSES" was divided, for the sake of distinguishing Unfinished Houses, and "therefore not yet Inhabited," from Houses uninhabited from any other cause: and excepting an Alteration in the Question regarding "OCCUPATIONS," which in the Act of 1801 applied to Persons, but in that of 1811 to Families. The propriety of distinguishing New Houses, an indication of prosperity, from Houses in decay, or uninhabited from any other cause authorizing an opposite inference, needs no explanation; and the Question of 1801 relating to the Occupations of Persons, was found in practice not to he such as insured uniformity in the Answers to it. In some instances, a Householder seemed to understand that the Females of his Family, his Children, and Servants, ought to be classed with himself; but generally these appear to have been referred to the Third Class, as being neither Agricultural nor Commercial: insomuch that in some places, where the Population was known to be almost entirely Agricultural, the Returns of 1801 do not assign above a third part to that Class; and in Commercial Towns a similar paucity of Persons employed in Trade is sometimes observable. Hence the Question regarding Occupations may be said to have produced no result in 1801, if indeed an incorrect result be not worse than none, as giving colour to unfounded speculations. When the Returns came in, the failure of the Question was manifest, and accordingly no labour was bestowed in attempting to correct the Answers in which the Number of Persons ascribed to the Three Classes did not coincide with the Total Number of Persons. In fact, it appears to have fallen short of that Total by above Half a Million; a sufficient indication that no inference can safely be drawn from the columns purporting to classify according to Occupations the Population in 1801, It may be seen that the amended Question in the Act of 1811 enquires, "What "Number of Families [not Persons
] are chiefly employed in or maintained by Agriculture? How many by Trade, Manufacture, or Handicraft? and how many Families are "not comprised in cither of these Classes?" and in general the Answers appear to have been made with care and sufficient distinctness. In some few of the late Returns the Question of 1801 was answered, the number of Persons
instead of Families
appearing in the classification; in some the number of Houses
instead of Families was accounted for; but these and other casual inaccuracies occurred too seldom to invalidate any general conclusion; and in all cases of consequence Letters were dispatched to the Overseer or School-master, and explanation procured. In many Schedules where the intention was evident; though the Number or Classification was erroneous, correction was applied; and upon the whole, it may be said, that in the formation of the Abstract nothing occurred to create a wish for any further alteration of the Question regarding Occupations, excepting only the insertion of a few words to settle in what Class Miners, Fishermen, and those employed in Inland Navigation, ought to be placed. All these appear to have been assigned, and perhaps in equal proportions, to the Second and Third Class; and in the Mining Counties considerable allowance must be made for this want of discrimination. In the Answers respecting the Families employed in Agriculture, a remarkable proof occurred of the difficulty of putting any Question which shall be universally understood. In some places the Occupiers
of Land, but not Labourers
in Agriculture, are supposed to belong to that Class; in other places exactly the contrary-: such mistakes however were usually apparent, and of course corrected in forming the Abstract. The subject of Classification may be dismissed by stating, that the Third or Negative Class appears to consist chiefly of superannuated Labourers
, and Widows
resident in small Tenements; this may serve to show that scarcely any information can be drawn from the numbers which appear in the Third or negative Class: From, the Two former Classes, and especially the Agricultural, important inferences may with confidence be deduced. The Number of Males composing the ARMY, NAVY, &C. includes The Regular Army, The Artillery, and The British Regular Militia, all according to the Returns to Parliament in 1811; but the Regiments of Local Militia, which were embodied for Training and Exercise on the 27th May 1811, have been ascribed to their respective Counties. With the Navy are included The Royal Marines: and to all these are added The Seamen, employed in navigating Registered Vessels. Thus the absolute Increase of the Population from 1801 to 1811, appears to be One Million Six Hundred and Fifty-four Thousand or' about Fifteen in a Hundred; or, setting aside the Increase of the Army and Navy, The Population of England appears to have increased Fourteen and a Half per Cent.; Wales and Scotland Thirteen per Cent. How far this apparent Increase is sustained by a comparison of the Baptisms with, the Burials as entered in the Parish-Registers during the Ten years (1801-1810) will be discussed in a subsequent part of these Observations; in this place it seems proper rather to explain the order in which the Returns have been digested for ready Reference, such explanation being necessary, or at least serviceable to all who may have occasion to consult the Population Abstract. The leading Division of England into Shires or Counties appears to have been established by our Saxon Ancestors about a thousand years since; many of the Counties feeing mentioned in History before the extinction of the Saxon Heptarchy. In the Population Abstract the Counties are placed in Alphabetical order, and in England each distinctly; but in Scotland it has been found necessary to join the Shires of Cromarty and Ross, the former being as it were scattered in about Fifteen separate fragments throughout the latter, and being indeed usually considered in modern Laws as forming part of it. Much inconvenience is experienced by the Inhabitants of the Shires of Ross and Cromarty from these numerous "Annexations," which were made by authority of two Acts of the Parliament of Scotland in 1685 and 1686. The further Division of the Southern parts of England into Hundreds is also unquestionably of Saxon origin, and probably in imitation of similar districts which existed in their parent Country:1
but in what manner the Name was applied is not certain. At least one hundred (which in Saxon numeration means one hundred and twenty2
Free Men, Householders, answerable for each other, may be supposed originally to have been found in each Hundred; for that the Hundreds were originally regulated by the Population is evident from the great number of Hundreds in the Counties first peopled by the Saxons, Thus Kent and Sussex at the time when Domesday Book was compiled, each contained more than Sixty Hundreds, as they do at present. In Lancashire, a County of greater area than either, there are no more than Six Hundreds, in Cheshire, Seven: and upon the whole, so irregular is this distribution of territory, that while several Hundreds do not exceed a square Mile in area, nor One Thousand Persons in Population, the Hundreds of Lancashire average at Three Hundred square Miles in area, and the Population contained in one of them (Salford Hundred) is above 250,000. This striking irregularity seems to have been felt as an inconvenience as early as the time of Henry VIII. when a remedy was attempted by ordaining Divisions
(called also Limits or Circuits
) which still exist (more or less manifestly) in most of the English Counties. These Divisions appear to have been formed by a junction of small Hundreds, or a partition of large Hundreds, as convenience required in each particulur case, and are recognized in subsequent Acts which regard the Maintenance and Relief of the Poor. But time, which had caused the irregularity of the ancient Hundreds, gradually has the same effect on more modern arrangements; so that, to alter the Names or Limits of the ancient Hundreds would really be equivalent to inventing and learning a new and change able language, instead of retaining in use that which has been established for ages. An instance of the inconvenience of such reform occurs in Wales, several of the Counties of which were created by Act of Parliament in 1535, and the ancient Districts called Cantrefs and Commots
were altered into Hundreds by virtue of a Commission under the Great Seal for that purpose; but the alteration was attended with much unexpected difficulty, three years, and afterwards three years further, being allowed for it by subsequent Acts of Parliament; and after all this deliberation, the new Counties and Hundreds exhibit more instances of indistinct boundary, that is, of Parishes and Townships not conterminous with the County or Hundred, than do the ancient Counties; while the abolished Cantrefs and Commots
are not yet quite forgotten, and occasionally cause some confusion. Such Innovations are really unnecessary, as Temporary Districts for present convenience will always be settled by the Civil Magistrates or by custom, around each place where Petty Sessions are usually holden3
: and in like manner for the business of the Lieutenantcy of each County, Sub-Divisions are formed from the ancient Hundreds, subject to such alteration as circumstances may require. In the Northern Counties, formerly exposed to hostile Invasion, Wards and Wapentakes stand in place of Hundreds; and in the Population Abstract they are alike arranged in alphabetical order in each County. Where the Divisions are very ancient, as the Lathes
of Kent and the Rapes
of Sussex, or where necessary from the multiplicity of the Hundreds, as in Hampshire and Dorset, they are preserved, and their several Hundreds ranged under them. The Divisions of Dorset underwent a change in the year 1740. One exception to the general arrangement occurs in regard to the larger Towns, which as usual are placed at the end of their several Counties. for this there is a better reason, than at first sight appears: Corporate Towns and some others have a peculiar Jurisdiction, and really arc not in any Hundred. The degree of separation and exemption varies in finitely, as might be expected, and cannot be reduced to any general rule, being indeed Sometimes a subject of Litigation. Hence the strict propriety of placing many Cities and Towns at the end of the respective Counties: and for the sake of comparison, other Towns, which have risen into importance since the disuse of granting Charters and Immunities, although these Towns are for every purpose included within some Hundred of the County, are placed with the rest. The most ready way therefore of finding the Population of a principal Town, is to refer to the Summary of its County, before searching for the Hundred in which it is locally situate. The METROPOLIS presents an unusual difficulty, as extending into Two Counties, and therefore has been necessarily inserted distinctly in an Appendix.4
In the County Summaries the Total of entire Hundreds is usually to be found; in the Body of the County all recognized Sub-divisions of the Hundred arc distinguished, each with its separate Total. So far the arrangement of the ensuing Volume differs little from, that of 1801, nor indeed from the several Poor Returns of 1776, 1786, and 1803; nor ought it to differ from established precedent, without good reason for so doing. But the very Repetition of such Enquiries has been found to render it absolutely necessary to enter more minutely into the relative connection and identity of places than, before. This necessity will best be understood by stating, that there are in England and Wales about 550 Parishes which are known to extend into Two Counties, or into more than One Hundred or other Jurisdiction; and that every one of these places creates a danger of Duplicate Entry. No person entrusted with the care of perfecting the Population Returns can fail to refer to all preceding Authorities; nor, doing so, can fail to apply for Returns to Parish Officers, who apparently, but not really, have made default: IS or can any effort of Memory prevent this; the orthography of the Names of Places being too little settled, and indeed many names identically the same occurring too often, to permit any certain recognition of the same place. The best method of avoiding these difficulties appeared to lie in a more careful attention to the Parochial connection of places; besides that for many purposes, particularly Ecclesiastical, the knowledge of the Population of a Parish
is at least as useful as that of its constituent parts. The Instruction prefixed to the Questions of the Printed Schedule was intended to produce Information of this kind, which indeed had before been asked with some effect, as appears in the Poor Return Abstract of 1803; with the help of which and of the present Returns, it was hoped that a successful attempt might be made, to ascertain the Parochial connection of all places in Great Britain; so that no Parish should be named in the Enumeration Abstract without a Reference to all its constituent parts; and that no such part should be named without a Reference to its Parish; and this whether the whole Parish be in the same County and Hundred, or otherwise. In this attempt some difficulty has occurred, which-renders it necessary to enter into a brief Statement respecting the Parochial Division of the Kingdom; which may be deemed Ecclesiastical rather than Civil. The Country Parishes of England (in the modern sense of the word Parish) seem originally to have been of the same extent and limits as the several Manors; nor could it well be otherwise, because when it became settled, during the Ninth and Tenth Centuries, that Tythe was generally due to the Church, every Lord of an independent Manor would of course appoint a Clergyman of his own chusing, or make a Donation of his Tythes to some Religious Community. Hence the Parochial Division of England appears to have been nearly the same as now established, in the Taxatio Ecclesiastica
, which was compiled in the Reign of King Edward the First. (A. D. 1288-1292.) In the Towns indeed there is considerable variation, personal Tythes having been much more productive before the Reformation of Religion than afterwards, and consequently a greater number of Clergymen maintained in populous places. Thus the City of London (within and without the Walls, but not including the Borough of Southwark) which now reckons One Hundred and Eight Parishes, forming no more than Seventy-two Ecclesiastical Benefices, had at that time One Hundred and Forty; Norwich in like manner is reduced from. Seventy Parishes to Thirty-seven, and other ancient Cities in proportion: a sufficient indication that the number of Parishes in Towns was formerly suffered to increase in proportion to the Population: and besides that personal Tythes and Dues must always have been in a great degree voluntary, it appears from the Tuxatio Ecclesiastica
, that the Profits accruing from one and the same Parish were not confined to one Spiritual Person, nor even to one Religious House or Community. Under such circumstances, it is not likely that Town-Parishes were anciently limited either in number or extent; but the conflicting Rights of Tythe Owners, and the Perambulations ordained by The Canon Law, must have settled the Boundaries of Country Parishes much earlier. In later times the Boundary of every Parish has been settled with precision, and indeed tendered immutable by any authority short of a special legislative enactment. This exactness has been produced by the Laws for the Maintenance and Relief of the Poor, whose claims on a Parish being regulated by their legal Settlement in it, and the Assessment or Poor's Rate which takes place in consequence, being levied according to the property of the other Inhabitants, a double motive for ascertaining the Boundary of a Parish continually subsists, and was frequently a subject of Litigation after the Poor Laws first became burdensome. At that time the Parishes of the Northern Counties were also found to be much too large for the due administration of the Poor Laws, which must always be founded upon. a personal knowledge of the situation and character of every one applying for relief, and is therefore a subject to which no general rule can well be applied. The inconvenience which was felt in the Northern Counties from this cause will be easily explained, by stating, that Thirty or Forty square Miles is there no unusual area of a Parish; in other words, that the Parishes in the North average at Seven or Eight times the area of those in the Southern Counties. Hence in the 13th year of Charles II. (soon after his Restoration) a Law was passed, permitting Townships and Villages, though not entire Parishes, severally and distinctly to maintain their own Poor, assigning as a reason for this innovation, "That the Inhabitants of Lancashire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Northumberland, the Bishoprick of Durham, Cumberland, and Westmorland, and many other Counties of England and Wales, by reason of the largeness of the Parishes within the same, have not and cannot reap the benefit of the Act of Parliament (43o
Eliz.) for the Relief of the Poor." Under this Law the Townships of the North have become as distinctly limited as if they were separate Parishes; and of course make separate Returns, which in the Abstract of 1801 are placed alphabetically in their several Wards and Hundreds, but are now arranged under their respective Parishes; whereby the perplexity arising from a crowd of explanatory Notes has been avoided, and the convenience of those who have occasion to ascertain the Population of a whole Parish, is best consulted. This arrangement takes place in all the Counties North of the Humber and the Dee, and occasionally elsewhere; and those who compare the Notes on Derbyshire with the simplified order of the seven more Northern Counties, will perhaps see cause for wishing the Improvement had been extended farther, or even throughout the Kingdom. In two of the Counties, Northumberland and Westmorland, such an arrangement had previously been formed; in the other live it now appears for the first time.5
In all the Southern Counties, the place which gives name to the whole Parish is always called Parish
, though it be only part of the Parish (the less important designation merging in the other); nor could this be avoided; but a proper Note of Reference will always be found to accompany the Name of such Parishes, as also the Name of the place so referred to. Besides this immediate and indispensable purpose of the Notes which appear in the present Abstract to the number of 2,300, they will be found to embrace such other information as may tend to elucidate the arrangement and connection of places, or to obviate doubts which frequently arise where well-known places seem to have been omitted, being indeed included in the Return of their Parish.6
In attempting an arrangement of this kind, comprehending the whole Kingdom, the Question, What is a Parish? has often occurred, and has been found not easily determinable. It has been asserted, that a Parochial Chapel is that which hath the privileges of administering the Sacraments (especially that of Baptism) and the Office of Burial. "For the liberties of Baptism and Sepulture are the true distinct Parochial Rights: and if any new Oratory had acquired and enjoyed this immunity, then it differed not from a Parish Church. And till the year 1300, in all trials of the Rights of particular Churches, if it could be proved that any Chapel had a custom for free Baptism and Burial, such place was adjudged to be a Parochial Church." But, however true this may have been at the time when Parishes were originally formed, in the present sense of the word Parish, it is evidently fallacious, inasmuch as almost every Chapel of Ease would thereby constitute a separate Parish: and in the various degrees of the dependence of Chapels on their Mother Churches (as some rule must be adhered to) it has been deemed safe to assume, that where the Curate is appointed and removable by the Incumbent of the Mother Church, and more certainly where Church-Rates still continue to be paid towards the Repair of such Church, the Chapelry is not Parochial. On the other hand, a perpetual
Curacy has not. been struck out of the List of Parishes merely because the Curate is appointed by the Incumbent of the Mother Church, his permanent Tenure, (especially if the Curacy has been augmented under the Laws which direct the distribution of Queen Anne's Bounty7
seeming to alter the case materially. But this attempt at definition is rather meant to show what has been aimed at, than what has been accomplished; it being impossible to ascertain minutely all such circumstances for the present occasion. Nevertheless, the doubtful cases are not many; and for any general purpose the number of Parishes and Parochial Chapelries in England and Wales may safely be taken at PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.
I.
ENUMERATION ABSTRACT.
The SUMMARY of the enumeration of 1801, as compared with that of 1811, is as follows:
Population 1801
INCREASE
POPULATION 1811
MALES
FEMALES
TOTAL
MALES
FEMALES
TOTAL
England
3,987,935
4,343,499
8,331,434
1,207,393
4,575,763
4,963,064
9,538,827
Wales
257,178
284,368
541,546
70,242
291,633
320,155
611,788
Scotland
734,581
864,487
1,599,068
206,620
826,191
979,497
1,805,688
Army, Navy,&c.
470,598
-
470,598
169,902
640,500
0
640,500
Totals
5,450,292
5,492,354
10,942,646
1,654,157
6,334,087
6,262,716
12,596,803
10,674
The Number of places in England and Wales of which the Population is distinctly stated in the present Abstract, is
15,741
The Number of Parishes in Scotland is 921; of Population Returns is
1,005
To arrive at a settled Orthography of the Names of places would manifestly be for general convenience, but is not easily attainable. On the present occasion this object has not been slighted, the name which appeared on each Return not having been adopted without collation with the former Population Abstract of 1801, and also with that of the Poor Returns of 1803, whereby frequent errors have been corrected: but it is to be understood that this kind of correction has been applied only to the Enumeration Returns, not to those of the Clergymen; so that in the Parish-Register Abstract every name will be found exactly as it appeared to be spelled in the original Return.
Besides Parishes and their Tythings or Townships, there are many places not contained within the Limits of any Parish, and thence called Extra-Parochial; and from some of these, Returns of their Population are not easily procurable. They are found usually to have been the site of Religious Houses the owners of which did not permit any interference with their authority within their own Limits; and in rude times, the existence of such exemptions from the general Government of the Kingdom is not surprising. At present the case is widely different; and there seems to be no good reason for permitting Extra-Parochial places still to avoid sharing the burdens borne by the rest of the Community. Thus an Extra-Parochial place enjoys a virtual exemption from maintaining the Poor, because there is no Overseer on whom a Magistrate's Order may be served; from the Militia Laws, because there is no Constable to make Returns; from repairing the Highways, because there is no Surveyor: besides all which., the Inhabitants have a chance of escaping from direct taxation of every kind.
The number of such places is not inconsiderable, though difficult to be discovered; the present Volume exhibits about 200 of them; and the subject is the more worthy of attention, inasmuch as the acquisition of new Land, whether by reclaiming Forests, Drainage of Fens, or Embankment from the Sea, furnishes frequent occasion for endeavouring even now to establish Extra-Parochial Immunities.
The subject of complaint being an unreasonable exemption from certain general Laws, the remedy might be applied to that defect only; so that all such places, where any person is found ready to act as Overseer of the Poor, Constable, and Surveyor of the Highways, might be permitted to remain as they are; but the Magistrates of each County might be empowered to annex all other Extra-Parochial places to adjoining Parishes for the purposes above described. Districts of larger extent maybe found, which under the name of Liberties interrupt the general course of Law as affecting Hundreds, in like manner as Extra-Parochial places that of Parishes. In Dorsetshire, where this inconvenience chiefly prevails, the Grants of some of these Liberties are dated as late as the Reign of Henry VIII. and even of Elizabeth. The proper Remedy for the Inconveniencies arising out of these improvident Grants might be to subject them to abolition by the County Magistrates, whenever by default in the appointment of proper Officers, these Liberties (under whatever title) are found to obstruct the due Administration of Justice or of the Laws.
Other deformities there are in the Territorial arrangement of England and Wales, which may be deemed the more worthy of attention, as of more easy remedy. Such have been already mentioned as causing Duplicate Returns, where Parishes extend into more Counties, or into more Hundreds than one. The number of places of the first class, in so far as they have been noted, is 134, scarcely any County not affording an instance, and some having Parishes intermixed with every surrounding County, The Parishes which extend into more Hundreds or Divisions than one, are much more numerous; and still more considerable is the number of those places which lie at a distance from their own County or Hundred, to the frequent inconvenience of the Inhabitants and of the Public. Indeed several of the Hundreds are so strangely scattered that they might be advantageously merged in others, as from the conjoint name of some Hundreds seems formerly to have been done. Instances of the inconvenience here alluded to, and of the remedy, are most frequent in Wiltshire. Winkley Hundred in Somersetshire, Farringdon Hundred in Berkshire, that of Barton Stacey in Hampshire, and some others, are remarkable instances of irregularity still in existence. The correction of all these Anomalies might be referred to the County Magistrates, who alone could accurately point them out, and who best know by experience how far such places are inconvenient to the Inhabitants, or to the Public at large.
The Enumeration of the whole Population may be considered as complete, no place being known finally to have omitted making Return. In cases where the name of a place differs from the Abstract of 1801, or where two places are included under one title, all the Names are now entered, with an explanatory remark: and the same thing has been done in cases where any place has been transferred from one Hundred to another.
The proportion of the Sexes remains much the same as in 1801, being nearly as Ten Males to Eleven Females of the Resident Population, and nearly equal in the General Total. The Increase of the Military, and of Sailors, has indeed increased the Number of Males; but it is obvious that this increase has not been entirely furnished by Great Britain, many Natives of Ireland, as well as Foreigners, being included in the Army, in the Navy, and among those who navigate Registered Shipping.
In conclusion it is proper to mention, that where the Total of any County, as laid before Parliament in February 1812, shall be found to differ from the Total in the present Volume, the latter is to be considered as the corrected Total, some alterations necessary from the discovery of duplicate entries, of omissions, and of clerical errors, having occurred on the final Revision of the Work.
1 Tacitus seems to describe a Hundred-Court very exactly: Eliguntur et principes qui jura per pagos vicosque reddunt: Centeni singulis ex plebe comits, concilium simul et auctoritas, adsunt.
De Morib. German.
2 Numerus Anglice computatur i Cent, pro CXX. Domesday Book , Vol. 1. p. 336. In Civ Linc.
3 In the year 1805 an opportunity occurred of learning from the several Clerks of the Peace, the places in England and Wales where Petty Sessions or Divisional Meetings were then usually holden; they amounted to 520; and the number of acting County Magistrates was 3,293; but many of these no doubt acted under more than one Commission of the Peace, which must make the real number much less. (For particulars, see p. xxix.)
4 Enum. Abstr. pp. 510, 511. Par. Reg. Abstr. pp. 197-200.
5 Mr. Davidson, Clerk of the Peace for the County of Northumberland, arranged the Townships of that County under their several Parishes, in 1777; and W. W. Carus Wilson; Esq. an active Magistrate in Westmorland, did the same for that County, in 1802;—in arranging the other Counties, when original information could not be procured, recourse was had to Mr. Carlisle's Topographical Dictionary, which experience proved to be worthy of confidence.
6 A few omissions in the Notes are supplied in pp. vi & vii; and may easily be inserted in the Volume by those who have occasion to be particularly accurate.
7 The Act of 1o Geo. I. c. 10. § 4. is not positive on this point; for, after declaring
"that all such Churches, Curacies, and Chapels, which shall be augmented by the Governors of the Bounty of Queen Anne, shall be from (he time of such augmentations, Perpetual Cures and Benefices,"—
in the next Section (§ 5.) it goes on to provide,
"That no Rector or Vicar of the Mother Church having Cure of Souls within the Parish or Place where such augmented Church or Chapel shall be situate, shall thereby be divested or discharged from the same; but the Cure of Souls, with all other Parochial Rights and Duties, shall hereafter remain in the same state, plight, and manner, as before the making of this Act, and as if this Act had not been made."