Extract from "The Cheshire Township of Kelsall 1841-1891": An Example of Demographic Change
Findings
Population
Comparison between Kelsall and National population data confirmed that Kelsall did sustain growth but at only half the national rate, achieving an interval median of 7.36%.
Cross-reference to the whole of the County of Chester confirmed that Kelsall was over 50 percent below the county median of 15.18%. Tri-angulation against two similar local townships of Tarvin (5 miles from Chester) and Tarporley (9 miles NW from Nantwich) also showed median interval growths of 6.57% and 5.12% respectively. This satisfied Elrington's opinion that rural Cheshire did not experience sharp population growth, and that Kelsall was representative of rural Cheshire.
Migration
Table 2 above hides the fact that although achieving growth, Kelsall was far from a stable community. Anderson's paper based his analysis on the 1851 census establishing a great deal of useful data for migration benchmarking. My own analysis agrees with Anderson that with high rates of out-migration rural stability was low right through the period of analysis. Referencing the appendix table 2, the median interval out-migration between 1891-1841 was 57%, a figure that compares well with Mann's (1996) finding of a median interval of 69% in his migration study of Shipbourne, Kent. Reference to table 3 in the appendix demonstrates that in-migration rose steadily throughout the period, the majority within the five-mile radius predicted by Anderson. The volume fell, as presumably opportunities for social mobility in other industries elsewhere became attractive. Conversely, the percentage of in-migrants from outside Cheshire continued to grow reaching its zenith in 1891.
The agricultural strength of Cheshire lay in dairy farming which provided some cushioning to the agricultural depression of the late 19th century. The fall in corn prices worked to the advantage of those livestock farmers who used corn as feed for their stock. (Armstrong 1990). Nevertheless the harsher economics of farming in the late 19th century (Jefferies 1880) resulted in changes to tenancies in Kelsall that rose from 18% in 1841 to a staggering 83% in 1881.
The principle that agents tried to follow on leasing farms was to continue with the families of the present tenant in preference to introducing strangers (Scard 1981). In general such requests were favourably considered with son following father. It was observed from the NRL that when the tenant of the farm died prematurely, the widow kept the farm and passed on the tenancy to one of her sons at a later date.
Situated on the north-east edge of a group of similar agricultural townships, Kelsall appears to conform to the typical agricultural pattern (Finnegan 1994) with members of farming families arriving from adjacent townships, most within a five mile radius of Kelsall, to seek a livelihood. Of the all the farmers who were enumerated only one in 1861/62 did not come from within a 10-mile radius of Kelsall, and even this farmer had a popular Kelsall name.
Being the significant employer for many of the worker force, when tenant farmers changed, whole families would appear to have moved in and out of the township as they pursued employment opportunities.
Copyright D G Dickson 1998