MORTALITY, BILLS OF. 
the city and liberties of Westminster. Seve- 
ral other parishes have been added to them 
at subsequent periods, but many of them 
have been merely new parishes formed out 
of larger ones which were before included, 
and tiie total number of parishes now com- 
prehended in the London bills of mortality 
is 146. They are divided into the ninety- 
seven parishes within the walls, sixteen pa- 
rishes without the walls, twenty-three out- 
parishes in Middlesex and Surry, and ten 
parishes in the city and liberties of West- 
minster. They give the ages at which the 
persons die, and a list of the diseases and 
casualties by which their death was occasi- 
oned, but little dependence can be placed 
on the list of diseases, except with respect 
to some of the most common and determi- 
nate. 
These’ bills would afford the means of as- 
certaining the state of population with suf- 
ficient precision, if the proportion of annual 
deaths to the number of the living could be 
accurately determined. This, however, pre- 
vious to the enumeration of 1801, could not 
be easily found even in the metropolis, the 
population of which, as deduced from the 
bills of mortality was very differently stated 
by different writers. Mr. John Graunt, 
who first published observations on the 
London bills of mortality in the year 1662, 
made the proportion dying annually about 
1 in 27. Sir William Petty and Dr. Braken- 
ridge afterwards stated it as 1 in 30, and 
Mr. Maitland 1 in 24i, but Dr. Price, who 
bestowed much attention on this subject, 
has shewn that about the year 1769, at 
least 1 in 22i of all the inhabitants of Lon- 
don died annually. In fact the proportion 
appears to have varied considerably at dif- 
ferent periods, and of late years, in conse- 
quence of the houses being less crowded 
with inhabitants, the widening of streets, 
and other improvements, the metropolis 
has become more healthy, and consequently 
the proportion dying annually less than for- 
merly. In the “ Observations on the re- 
sults of the Population Act,” it is stated that 
the proportion of annual deaths in London 
in the year 17.60 appears to have been 1 in 
23, and in the year 1801 only 1 in 31. 
The following statement of the. average 
of each five years from 1730, will shew a 
considerable decrease in the annual number 
of burials, and an increase of the christen- 
ings, which strongly indicate the progressive 
increase of the population of the metropolis ; 
the proportion of annual deaths to 100 
christenings likewise shews that they have 
approached so nearly to an equality that the 
population of London can now nearly sup- 
port itself without an 
the country. 
annual supply from 
5 Tears 
ending 
Burials 
Chris- 
tenings 
Proportion to 
100 Christen. 
1735 ... 
2.5,490 ... 
17,517 
... 145 
1740 ... 
27,494 ... 
16,144 
... 170 
1745 ... 
25,350 ... 
14,419 
... 175 
1750 ... 
25,352 ... 
14,496 
... 174 
1755 ... 
21,080 ... 
15,119 
... 139 
1760 ... 
19,837 ... 
14,459 
... 137 
176.6 ... 
23,992 ... 
15,931 
... 150 
1770 ... 
22,888 ... 
16,440 
... 139 
1775 ... 
22,177- ... 
17,284 
... 128 
1780 ... 
20,743 ... 
17,2.56 
... 120 
1785 ... 
18,880 ... 
17,263 
... 109 
1790 ... 
19,657 ... 
18,465 
... 106 
1795 ... 
20,228 ... 
18,800 
... 107 
1800 ... 
19,131 ... 
18,708 
... 102 
The bills 
of mortality in many parts of 
Great Britain are known to be materially' 
defective ; the deficiencies are ascribed 
chiefly to the following circumstances. 1. 
Mony congregations of dissenters inhabiting 
towns have their own peculiar burying 
grounds ; as have likewise the Jews, and the 
Roman Catholics who reside in London. 2. 
Some persons, from motives of poverty or 
convenience, inter their dead without any 
religious ceremony ; this is known to hap- 
pen in the Metropolis, in Bristol, and New- 
castle-upon-Tyne, and may happen in a 
few otlier large towns. 3. Children who 
die before baptism are interred without 
any religious ceremony, and consequently 
are not I’egistered. 4. Many persons em- 
ployed in the army and in navigation die 
abroad, and consequently their buiials re- 
main unregistered. 5. Negligence may be 
supposed to cause some omissions in the 
registers, especially in those small benefices 
where tire officiating minister is not resi- 
dent. Whatever may be the total number 
of deaths and burials, which from these se- 
veral circumstances are not brought to ac- 
count, it has been estimated that about 
.6000 of them may be attributed to the me- 
tropolis, and a large portion of the rest may 
be ascribed to the other great towns, and to 
AV^ales, where the registers are less care- 
fully kept than in England. In Scotland, 
registers of mortality have not yet been ge- 
nerally established} and those which are 
kept, are in many instances very incom- 
plete. 
The total annual amount of burials, as 
collected pursuant to the population act. 
