ABSTRACT
The first calculation of national income in this country was made by Gregory Bang in 1696. An account of the exploits of the first English statistician in his career as a public official and in his private xviibusiness transactions makes an acceptable break in the long chain of statistical chapters. Converting to present-day values of money (which is difficult owing to the fact that our ancestors spent one-seventh of their incomes on drink, and in terms of quantities drank four times as much per head as we do now) they appear to have had an average income of £50 per head at present-day prices, or about half that of the present time, and not widely different from that of the early nineteenth century. The average diet of that time was somewhat inferior to that of the poorest families in present-day England, but they were well housed and had plenty to drink. Accurate statistics of national income begin in 1860, thanks to the wage statistics of Professor Bowley taken in conjunction with income-tax statistics analysed by Sir Josiah Stamp. Real income per worker, measured at 1913 price, rose from £69·8 in the 'sixties to £114·9 in 1913.
