German + Peel - BMD 1600-1850

Note

Unless otherwise stated all Baptismal data has been derived from the transcriptions in the IGI derived from the official 1911 transcription - thus it is a transcription of a transcription of an earlier transcription !

Census Data

Based on various Church, Civil and, post 1821, Decennial Census data

Peel is contained within German, the parish records of which do not always distinguish the place of residence. It is interesting that the two figures for the parish of German and Peel indicate that they were of equal number previous to 1850 after which Peel begins to dominate. The 1851 and 1861 census figures would also appear to underestimate the population of Peel as the census dates were after the start of the Kinsale fishery - in 1851 some 60 wives were indicated as heads of households (describing themselves as 'wife of fisherman' etc), there are also likely to be many unmarried young men on the boats. The 1861 figures may be similarly affected (not yet checked) - by 1871 those enumerated at Kinsale were added to the totals.

Baptisms

The Baptismal Register starts in 1670 but has a gap 1685-1694; any earlier register was destroyed in a fire at St Peter's. The data up to 1770 is from personal transcription of the registers - that until 1814 is by counting entries in the Parish Register; that after this date is from the IGI (and needs to be checked). The dip in 1713 is I believe due to poor record keeping, a new register dates from 1714 (which corresponds to the opening of Kk Patrick church), there would appear to be a page missing as the old register stops February 1712/3. The dips in 1740 and 1743 correspond to the years of bad harvests and epidemics of 'flux' whilst some of the sudden peaks are years following smallpox epidemics when following the loss of a suckling infant a pregnancy occurs earlier than would be expected.

The pronounced dip and slowdown post 1765 indicates years of little if any growth in Peel - the sudden jump in baptisms is due to temporary cessation in the french war and troubles in Ireland during which many troops were stationed in Peel.

Marriages

The earlier dates (1675-1809) are from personal transcription of the registers - later data is derived from the IGI but is significantly inaccurate as the IGI replaced the transcription of the 1911 copy by later transcriptions thus altering the batch number (see discussion under Andreas). Based on those years examined I expect that the true figures post 1815 could be about 50% higher. There are no entries between late 1689 and 1695, the register also appears deficient for 1716-1723. Between late 1777 and 1780 there would appear to be a significant number of underage marriages (around 20%) not seen in other years. The peak 1811/1812 was due to a significant number of marriages to soldiers (6th Reg and 11 RB).

Burials

Several epidemic peaks can be noted - those for 1764/5 and 1772 are smallpox, that of 1740 is indicated as 'flux' in the register (some form of dysentery).

References

R.A. Houston The Population History of Britain and Ireland 1500-1750, Macmillan Education Studies in Economic and Social History (ISBN 0-333-56564-9) 1992