TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 



143 



On the Wirral Peninsula, and the Growth of its Population during the last 

 fifty years in connexion with Liverpool and the Manchester District, By 

 J. TowNE Danson, F.8.S. 



The Wirral Peninsula is that tract of land, part of Cheshire, lying between the 

 Mersey and the Dee, and about 60,000 acres in extent, on the eastern border of 

 which has recently sprung up the town of Birkenhead. The following Table exhibits 

 the growth of the population, on the assumption that Birkenhead is, in fact, an oflF- 

 shoot of the town of Liverpool : — 



The assumption that Liverpool and Birkenhead are substantially but one town, was 

 supported by a return of the number of passengers across the Mersey by the two 

 ferries between Liverpool and Birkenhead, showing an increase from 3,800,000 in 

 1850, to upwards of 5,000,000 in 1854 ; the passengers by the ferry attached to, and 

 principally serving, the Birkenhead and Chester Railway, forming but a small portion 

 of the total number. The comparative distribution of the entire population of Wirral 

 at the beginning and end of the fifty years — the additional population being almost 

 entirely concentrated within about 12,000 acres of the peninsula, along the bank of 

 the Mersey, — confirmed the general inference, that to the growth of Birkenhead, or 

 rather to the expansion of Liverpool across the river, the whole or nearly the whole 

 of the change was due. The return of the birth-places of the population of 1851, 

 showed that of the immigrants of twenty years of age and upwards, about equal propor- 

 tions had come in from the other parts of Cheshire, from Lancashire, and from Ireland. 

 Scotland had contributed nearly as many as Wales, and York and Cumberland stood 

 together next on the list. The avowed purpose of the paper being simply to place 

 distinctly upon record a statistical outline of the leading facts touching the growth of 

 Birkenhead, the writer abstained from inferences, and left the materials to be added 

 at a future period. 



The Family Principle in London Banking. By JamesWilliam Gilbaet, F.R.S. 

 The author states, that the object of his paper is to inquire to what extent the pri- 

 vate banks of London are composed of members of the same family. Where we find 

 two or more partners in any bank bear the same name, it is reasonable to suppose that 

 they are members of the same family. The annual returns published in the London 

 Gazette give the name of each firm, and the individual name of each member of fhe 

 firm. From these returns the author has constructed a table of all the London Banks 

 classified according to the number of families they respectively represent. 

 The following is a summary of this Table : — 



Partners. Names, 

 family having together 52 bearing 20 

 lies ,, 



Total 61 



