ABSTRACT
Research into British population history has just gone through the destructive phase of historiography, where previous generalizations that have held the stage for a generation and more have been completely undermined by new evidence. The new interpretation is owed principally to the research of Professor E. A. Wrigley and Dr R. S. Schofield of Cambridge. The facts about total numbers were never challenged as dramatically as the explanations for change. A slight fall from 5.3 million to 4.9 million is now suggested between 1656 and 1686 (Gregory King assumed 5.5 millions for 1688) in England and Wales; with recovery by 1716. Numbers reached 5.8 million by 1750 and at the first — and defective — census of 1801 were almost 9 million for England and Wales; 1.5 million for Scotland. By 1851 numbers had risen to 18 million in England and Wales; 3 million in Scotland (21 million); by 1901, to 32.5 million in England and Wales; 4.5 million in Scotland (37 million). The rise in numbers in Ireland had been equally formidable in the century after 1750 — that is until the famine of 1846. From 2.5 million in the mid-eighteenth century Irish population reached 5 million by 1800 and over 8 million in 1841. Then came disaster. By 1851 numbers in Ireland had fallen to 6.5 million; in 1901 they were 4.5 million.
