I40 THE FAMILY AND THE NATION 



the number of children frequently occur ; but, as it is 

 impossible to be sure, in cases where no children are 

 mentioned, whether no children have been born or 

 whether the entry has not been made, it is necessary 

 once more to restrict the results to fertile marriages 

 only. 



The marriages of inhabitants of the British Isles 

 were classified in two groups, those solemnized before 

 1870 and those after, with the omission in each case of 

 individuals of the class already considered above. Two 

 subdivisions were also made, for it became apparent 

 after a short study that clerical and military families 

 could be more profitably considered separately. 



Taking the available entries consecutively, it was 

 found that 143 fertile marriages of laymen before 1870 

 had resulted in 743 children, an average of 5.2 to each 

 couple. After 1870 the average is 3.08, or 1264 

 children to 410 couples. It will be noticed that these 

 figures are appreciably lower than those deduced from 

 a study of the Peerage, but it must be remembered 

 that, in the first case, we have a record of all, or nearly 

 all, the births that occur ; while in Whos Who the 

 entries probably refer to such children only as are alive 

 at the time the entry is made, and the death of at least 

 one child in a family in the additional period of twenty 

 years between 1870 and 1890 is to be expected. 



In clerical families we find that, before 1870, there 

 were 463 births to 93 marriages, an average of 4.99 

 children to each marriage, and after 1870, 437 children 

 to 104 marriages, an average of 4.2. From the dates 

 of marriage and preferment supplied, it is clear that the 

 children were born chieflv before their fathers attained 



