Demographic Changes In England In 1550
To place this period into context, the population of England in 1750 was 5.75 million. Scotland had 1.25 million people and Wales had 500 thousand. A century later, in 1850, the numbers had more than doubled, to 16.7 million, 2.9 million and 1.2 million respectively. The most remarkable feature of demographic change in this period was the ability of the British society and economy to cope so well with this massive rise in population. Despite claims of being a major urbanized nation, Britain in 1550 was definitely not known for beauty and magnificence of its towns. Urban life seemed far less developed in Britain than other regions such as Germany and Northern Italy. Political theorist Giovanni Botero commented on how England (excluding London)
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Other settlements existed but only consisted of only a few hundred people. These smaller towns only differentiated themselves from villages due to specific administrational functions, such as a market or other economic institutions. Looking forward to the mid eighteenth century there were some 104 centres with a population of 2,500 or more which was the number that constituted a ‘town’. It is evident that the proportion of those living in towns had at least doubled between the late sixteenth century and 1750. Urban life was becoming an increasingly common …show more content…
By the beginning of the eighteenth century military garrisons and naval establishments were found in these settlements. From about 1700 we see a change where towns provided leisure for all social strata, most notably however, for the gentry and professionals of the area as the poorer members of the population could rarely afford these luxuries.
A major change in this period was how the ‘modern’ town seemed to act as a magnet for immigrants. An observer at the end of our period notes how the rapidly expanding industrial town of Birmingham had a workforce that was almost 50% not native to the area, “many of them are foreigners”. Population increase became a major issue during this period as towns struggled to sustain ever increasing numbers. Towns were centres of disease and evidently experienced mass epidemics which waged a steady war of attrition against the urban
Other settlements existed but only consisted of only a few hundred people. These smaller towns only differentiated themselves from villages due to specific administrational functions, such as a market or other economic institutions. Looking forward to the mid eighteenth century there were some 104 centres with a population of 2,500 or more which was the number that constituted a ‘town’. It is evident that the proportion of those living in towns had at least doubled between the late sixteenth century and 1750. Urban life was becoming an increasingly common …show more content…
By the beginning of the eighteenth century military garrisons and naval establishments were found in these settlements. From about 1700 we see a change where towns provided leisure for all social strata, most notably however, for the gentry and professionals of the area as the poorer members of the population could rarely afford these luxuries.
A major change in this period was how the ‘modern’ town seemed to act as a magnet for immigrants. An observer at the end of our period notes how the rapidly expanding industrial town of Birmingham had a workforce that was almost 50% not native to the area, “many of them are foreigners”. Population increase became a major issue during this period as towns struggled to sustain ever increasing numbers. Towns were centres of disease and evidently experienced mass epidemics which waged a steady war of attrition against the urban