Natural Fertility in Pre-industrial England, 1600-1799

Abstract

Summary In this paper the result of 14 family reconstitution studies of parishes in England in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are analysed. It is shown that the prevailing regime of childbearing within marriage was one of natural fertility and that no convincing evidence exists, in the aggregate, for family limitation. Moreover, none of the 14 parishes when analysed individually shows any significant sign of family limitation. In addition, it is apparent that the level of marital fertility was low in comparison with other populations with natural fertility regimes and that there was little regional variation, levels and age-patterns of fertility being similar in all 14 parishes.

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