692 
THE NUMBER OF HORSES IN ENGLAND 
AND WALES. 
Ha ving for some time been a constant subscriber to that 
valuable journal The Veterinarian, I may, perhaps, be 
allowed to request, through the medium of it, an answer to the 
following question, which I have no doubt some one of your very 
ingenious and well-informed contributors will be able to furnish : 
— “ What is the fairest estimate of the total number of horses 
employed in Great Britain for all the purposes of pleasure and 
utility to which they are subjected ?” 
If the gentleman who will oblige me by answering this will, 
at the same time, be so kind as to state on what data he founds 
his calculation, he will confer an additional obligation on me. 
O. H. F. 
I copy from McCulloch’s Dictionary of Commerce (an expen- 
sive but an invaluable work, and not half so well known as it 
ought to be) part of an official statement of the number of horses 
of various descriptions that paid duty in 1814, when those that 
were used in husbandry were taxed, and also of another state- 
ment, when horses used in agriculture were exempt : — 
Horses used for riding , drawing carriages, and 
charged at progressive rates 
1814. 
161,123 
15,921 
4,258 
1,903 
734 
Persons keeping 1 horse 
2 horses 
3 do. 
• 4 do. 
■ 5 do. 
. 6 do. 510 
7 and 8 
9 do. 80 
10 to 12 
13 to 16 
17 3 
18 8 
19 2 
Horses let to hire 
Race-horses 
20 and upwards 
No. of horses. No. of horses. 
1832. 
1814. 
1832. 
123,668 
161,123 
123,668 
15,337 
31,842 
31,074 
3,580 
1,461 
12,774 
10,740 
7,612 
5,844 
642 
3,670 
3,210 
356 
3,060 
3,372 
2,136 
2,204 
59 
720 
079 
746 
582 
1,354 
719 
3 
51 
51 
7 
144 
126 
4 
38 
76 
1,348 
1,142 
1,454 
2,073 
560 
997 
Other horses , exempt in 1814, hut taxed when the 
agricultural tax was withdrawn : — 
Horses used for riding or drawing carriages, and not exceeding 
13 hands ... ... ... ... ... ... 19,121 
Horses rode by farming bailiffs ... ... ... ... 1,251 
Ditto by butchers, when one only is kept ... ... ... 2,089 
Ditto where two are kept, solely for trade ... ... ... 1,025 
Horses not chargeable to any of the foregoing duties, yet taxed ... 112,989 
Mules ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 410 
24,639 
1,438 
3,364 
1,213 
123,728 
348 
367,578 
... 973,714 
Horses taxed for agriculture in 1814 ... 
1,341,292 
