Local Distribution
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Local distribution of the several classes of the population.
—We have so far referred to the population of Wales and Monmouthshire as a whole, but it is evident that the distribution of the several classes of the population, in its linguistic aspect, will show considerable variations according to the circumstances of the different parts of the country, and we shall therefore now proceed to compare the statistics of the various local divisions. Persons speaking English only.—
This section of the population is, as has already been shown, more numerous than any other, comprising 53.7 per cent. of the whole. Among the several counties, however, the proportions show some very wide variations, being as low as 7.7 per cent, in Merionethshire, 8.5 per cent. in Anglesey, and 8.7 per cent. in Cardiganshire, and as high as 65.3 per cent. in Pembrokeshire, 86.3 per cent. in Monmouthshire, and 93.4 per cent. in Radnorshire. TABLE IV. ADMINISTRATIVE COUNTIES AND COUNTY BOROUGHS.—Proportion per 1,000 persons at each age-group speaking English only, 1911; and proportion at all ages, 1901 and 1911.
With the three exceptions of Monmouthshire, Pembrokeshire, and Radnorshire, all the counties show an increase since 1901 in the proportions of monoglot English, and in the three exceptions the decreases are insignificant and may be due entirely to the increased numbers "not stated." As regards the age-distribution, it may be observed that those counties with high proportions follow the general rule for the whole of Wales, namely, highest proportions in childhood (up to. 15 years) and decreasing proportions at subsequent successive age-groups; Pembrokeshire, in which the maximum proportion is reached at age 15-25, is the only real exception. On the other hand, in counties with low proportions speaking English only the maxima occur generally at ages 15-45. The case of Anglesey appears somewhat anomalous, but examination of the returns shows that the peculiar rise in the proportion at age 10-15 is due to the inclusion in the county figures of a large number of English boys who were on board a training ship. The above table shows that the counties fall into two well-defined groups, (1) Anglesey, Carnarvonshire, Merionethshire, Cardiganshire, and Carmarthenshire, in which the persons speaking English only form but a small minority; and (2) Flintshire, Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire, Brecknockshire, Monmouthshire, Glamorganshire, and Pembrokeshire, in which the persons speaking English only outnumber all the other classes of the population. Denbighshire occupies a position between the two groups, the monoglot English being only 41.7 per cent, of the total population. It will be seen that the predominantly Welsh-speaking counties comprise a continuous area extending along the whole of the western half of the Principality—Pembrokeshire being a detached member of the group of predominantly English-speaking counties. The administrative counties are convenient units for comparison, but Table 3, on pages 47 to 51, which shows the proportions at the censuses of 1901 and 1911 of the various classes of population (without distinction of sex or age) in the several urban and rural districts, indicates how widely the conditions differ within the same county. Thus, Llanrwst Rural District on the western side of Denbighshire had only 55 monoglot English per 1,000, while Chirk Rural District, on the opposite side of the county, had 533; Machynlleth Rural District, on the western side of Montgomeryshire, had only 28 monoglot English per 1,000, while Forden Rural District, on the eastern side, had 895 per 1,000. There is, on the whole, a distinct tendency to greater frequency of monoglot English in urban than in rural districts, but there are many exceptions to the rule; geographical position and other conditions appear to be more important factors than mere aggregation in urban communities. In Monmouthshire, for example, Rhymney Urban District had 387 per 1,000 monoglot English, and a lower figure than that, recorded for any rural district in the county (viz. 831 per 1,000 in St. Mellons Rural District;) was by four other urban districts. In some cases, as in Aberystwyth, Barmouth, Colwyn Bay, and Llandudno the fact of. their being holiday resorts accounts for an excess of monoglot English compared with that in the districts surrounding them; while in Pembrokeshire the two rural districts of Llanfyrnach and St. Dogmells are overwhelmingly Welsh-speaking in contrast to the rest of the county, and these two districts are more closely, connected geographically with the Welsh-speaking county of Cardiganshire, in which, indeed, they are included for poor law purposes. The small county of Radnor is the only one in which the several districts do not show diversity, and in this case they are uniformly English-speaking. Persons speaking Welsh only.
—In this section of the population were included 92,737 males and 97,555 females in 1911, against 137,333 males and 143,572 females in 1901. Thus in the ten years there has been a decline amounting to 90,613 in the number of persons who have been returned as speaking Welsh only, and the proportion to the total population has fallen from 151 to 85 per 1,000. This decline has been shared, though very unequally, by all the thirteen counties, those in which the proportions of monoglot Welsh at both censuses were lowest having on the whole shown the greatest relative decrease. TABLE V. ADMINISTRATIVE COUNTIES AND COUNTY BOROUGHS.—Proportion per 1,000 persons at each age-group speaking Welsh only, 1911; and proportion at all ages, 1901 and 1911.
As regards the distribution at the several age-groups, the consistent diminution from the first period (3-5 years) to the fourth (15-25 years), and the subsequent increase at each successive period observed for Wales and Monmouthshire as a whole, is found, practically without exception, in each county. In four of the counties over one-third of the population above 3 years of age is returned as speaking Welsh only, and in each of these cases the maximum proportion is at the youngest age-group; in all the remaining counties, except Montgomeryshire, the maximum proportions are at the other extreme of life. In view of the large decrease in the proportion of monoglot Welsh at all ages, it is interesting to note to what extent the populations at the several ages have contributed to the decline. The ratio percent, of the proportions in 1911 to those in 1901 are shown in the following statement for the whole area, and for the four most predominantly. Welsh-speaking counties:— The greatest proportional decrease, therefore, occurred in the age group 15-25, and a rather smaller decrease in the group 25-45; no separate comparisons can be made for the children between 3 and 5 years, 5 to 10, or 10 to 15, but the whole group from 3 to 15 showed less decrease than either of the two young adult groups in spite of the general instruction in the English language in the schools; among persons over 65 the decrease is, as might be expected,, considerably less than at any of the younger ages. Persons speaking both English and Welsh.
—No general increase such as is shown by the monoglot English, and no general decrease, as in the case of the monoglot Welsh, is observable among the bilingual section of the population. The proportions were almost identical at the two censuses over the whole of Wales and Monmouthshire; but eight counties, including those with the highest proportions in 1901, showed increases, while five—Monmouthshire, Glamorganshire, Brecknockshire, Flintshire and Radnorshire showed decreases. The largest relative increases in the bilingual populations of the several counties occurred in Anglesey, Cardiganshire, Carnarvonshire and Merionethshire—the four counties referred to above as containing the highest proportions of monoglot Welsh; and the largest relative decreases in the two counties, Monmouthshire and Radnorshire, containing the highest proportions of monoglot English. TABLE VI. ADMINISTRATIVE COUNTIES AND COUNTY BOROUGHS.—Proportion per 1,000 persons at each age-group speaking both Welsh and English, 1911; and proportion at all ages, 1901 and 1911.
As regards the age-distribution of persons speaking both English and Welsh the maximum proportions are found at age 15-25 in those counties with high proportions at all ages—Anglesey, Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire, Carnarvonshire and Merionethshire; but in those counties with low proportions at all ages, the maximum is found either at 45-65 or at 65 and upwards. In the former group the proportions at age 10-15 also are higher than at the ages above 45, and this fact may be taken to indicate that the comparatively high proportion of bilinguals in these counties is to some extent due to the teaching in the schools. Taking the four counties which showed the greatest relative increases during the last inter-censal period in the proportion of bilinguals, it will be found that among the several age-groups the maximum increase has occurred at age 65 and upwards; while in Monmouthshire, which showed the greatest decline, the numbers in this age-group decreased relatively less than in any other. The ratios per cent, of the proportions in 1911 to those in 1901 are shown in the following statement:— The exceptionally low ratio at 15-25 in Monmouthshire is apparently due to immigration—most active at these ages—of persons speaking English only; the next age-group (25-45) is probably affected also though to a smaller extent by the same cause; and the absence of such migration at ages, over 65 would leave the ratio at that age-period comparatively high. It is possible that a converse process, namely, emigration of bilinguals from the other four counties (all of which suffered loss by migration) may have contributed to the high ratios at 65 and upwards in those counties. Total English-speaking and total Welsh-speaking.
—In order to compare the prevalence of English or Welsh in the several parts of the country, it is necessary to take into account the varying proportions speaking both languages. For example, the monoglot English in Brecknockshire amount to only 570 per 1,000, while in Pembrokeshire they are 653 per 1,000; but the total proportion speaking English in the former county is 929 per 1,000 against 900 per 1,000 in the latter. The following table, which is derived from Table 3, pages 47 to 51, shows the proportions of all English and of all Welsh speakers in 1901 and 1911, and the per-centage ratio of increase or decrease; the proportions of bilinguals are also shown separately in order to complete the comparison. TABLE VII. ADMINISTRATIVE COUNTIES AND COUNTY BOROUGHS.—Proportion per 1,000 persons speaking English and Welsh respectively, inclusive of those speaking both languages, 1901 and 1911; and ratios per cent, of proportions in 1911 to those in 1901.
The counties of Monmouthshire and Radnorshire, which are both almost entirely English speaking, are the only ones in which the total proportion of English speakers has declined. Other counties having 90 per cent., or more, English speakers in their populations are Flintshire (94.2), Glamorganshire (93.9), Brecknockshire (92.9), and Pembrokeshire (90.0); none of these counties shows more than 3 per cent, increase in the proportions of their total English-speaking populations. The counties which have shown the greatest increases, ranging from 18 to 30 per cent., in their total English speakers are the five—Anglesey, Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire, Carnarvonshire and Merionethshire— in which Welsh is the predominant language, and in which that language has shown but little decline during the inter-censal period. Language spoken in Wales, Scotland and Ireland
—We have shown that in the whole of Wales and Monmouthshire the proportion of the population over 3 years of age returned as speaking Welsh was 43.5 per cent., 35.0 per cent, speaking that language in addition to English, and 8. 5 per cent, being returned as speaking Welsh only. From the census returns for Scotland and Ireland, collected and tabulated by the Registrars-General for those parts of the United Kingdom, it appears that in Scotland Gaelic is spoken by only 4.6 per cent, of the population over 3 years of age, and in Ireland, Irish by only 14.0 per cent, the proportions speaking the ancient language alone being as low as 0.4 per cent, in each case. Persons speaking Gaelic only are found almost exclusively in the counties of Argyll, Inverness, Ross and Cromarty, and Sutherland; and those speaking Irish only in the counties of Donegal, Clare, Cork, Galway, Kerry, Mayo, and Waterford. The figures for the counties in which the greatest prevalence of the ancient language is recorded are as follows:— It appears, therefore, that not only is the Welsh language more generally used in Wales, as a whole, than is the Irish language in Ireland or the Gaelic in Scotland, but that in no part of the latter countries does the ancient language prevail to so great an extent as in the Welsh counties named above.
COUNTIES AND COUNTY BOROUGHS
AGES.
TOTAL,
3 years and
upwards.3-5
5-10
10-15
15-25
25-45
45-65
65
and
upwards1911
1901
Wales and Monmouthshire
590
590
570
571
542
457
386
537
498
Monmouthshire (including County Boroughs)
862
893
898
898
862
793
740
863
867
Monmouth Administrative County
849
880
884
886
841
753
697
842
841
Newport County Borough
917
947
953
944
937
933
903
939
958
Glamorganshire (including County Boroughs)
638
641
626
614
581
509
470
589
559
Glamorgan Administrative County
579
575
549
536
503
409
371
512
448
Cardiff County Borough
870
898
904
908
889
853
806
885
908
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough
591
578
542
505
463
358
309
481
425
Swansea County Borough
755
761
746
709
685
604
542
689
668
Anglesey
86
77
96
86
100
76
49
85
80
Brecknockshire
630
642
637
633
580
457
385
570
540
Cardiganshire
83
68
53
119
105
78
49
87
67
Carmarthenshire
156
129
112
154
149
108
83
134
95
Carnarvonshire
116
100
89
124
145
124
101
122
103
Denbighshire
478
465
441
430
423
361
323
417
380
Flintshire
616
623
617
590
549
473
412
554
508
Merionethshire
65
57
46
79
99
80
62
77
62
Montgomeryshire
612
608
587
581
534
477
431
540
524
Pembrokeshire
655
687
684
699
652
611
542
653
655
Radnorshire
906
961
965
958
930
917
876
934
937
Counties and County Boroughs
AGES.
TOTAL,
3 years and
upwards.3-5
5-10
10-15
15-25
25-45
45-65
65
and
upwards1911
1901
Wales and Monmouthshire
130
97
60
46
62
126
224
85
151
Monmouthshire (including County Boroughs)
3
2
2
3
4
7
15
4
7
Monmouth Administrative County
3
3
3
3
5
9
18
5
9
Newport County Borough
—
—
—
—
1
Glamorganshire (including County Boroughs)
46
27
18
18
25
54
100
31
66
Glamorgan Administrative County
60
34
23
22
31
71
131
39
91
Cardiff County Borough
2
1
1
1
1
2
5
2
2
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough
39
20
17
22
29
68
140
35
73
Swansea County Borough
24
16
11
12
13
32
64
19
33
Anglesey
602
507
296
247
299
400
540
362
480
Brecknockshire
109
67
41
28
41
70
119
56
93
Cardiganshire
599
490
271
177
240
421
593
342
504
Carmarthenshire
402
267
147
107
151
284
436
205
356
Carnarvonshire
578
496
305
225
289
410
542
356
477
Denbighshire
200
126
62
57
70
135
230
101
183
Flintshire
79
34
16
16
22
46
104
34
75
Merionethshire
667
574
316
208
264
437
566
367
506
Montgomeryshire
204
151
81
66
82
116
185
107
156
Pembrokeshire
157
103
51
37
54
99
169
77
119
Radnorshire
—
—
—
3
1
2
COUNTIES
Total,
3 years and
upwards.3-15
15-25
25-45
45-65
65 and
upwards.Wales and Monmouthshire
56
56
44
49
63
76
Anglesey
75
76
63
74
80
86
Cardiganshire
68
70
52
57
74
83
Carnarvonshire
75
77
60
70
79
84
Merionethshire
73
79
58
60
78
85
Counties and County Boroughs
AGES.
TOTAL,
3 years and
upwards.3-5
5-10
10-15
15-25
25-45
45-65
65
and
upwards1911
1901
Wales and Monmouthshire
174
265
337
360
378
403
378
350
348
Monmouthshire (including County Boroughs)
30
39
47
61
107
176
221
92
123
Monmouth Administrative County
36
47
57
74
127
213
258
111
148
Newport County Borough
5
5
8
16
34
47
79
26
36
Glamorganshire (including County Boroughs)
210
284
323
343
374
421
414
350
369
Glamorgan Administrative County
254
347
399
422
450
509
487
424
457
Cardiff County Borough
13
28
37
44
71
116
161
65
79
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough
287
375
428
463
497
565
541
467
498
Swansea County Borough
122
167
199
239
268
337
366
252
291
Anglesey
167
359
579
643
593
509
404
526
437
Brecknockshire
170
258
308
327
379
466
494
359
366
Cardiganshire
195
401
654
690
646
492
352
554
426
Carmarthenshire
325
571
729
730
691
602
477
644
548
Carnarvonshire
184
356
577
635
554
456
349
500
419
Denbighshire
233
374
477
502
498
496
440
466
436
Flintshire
200
293
334
377
414
467
473
388
416
Merionethshire
144
318
611
697
626
476
365
536
431
Montgomeryshire
114
214
319
346
377
401
378
341
319
Pembrokeshire
91
168
234
246
277
279
279
247
225
Radnorshire
20
12
19
36
64
78
112
53
60
Counties
Total
3 years
and
upwards.3-15
15-25
25-45
45-65
65 and
upwardsWales and Monmouthshire
101
101
96
99
104
109
Anglesey
120
120
123
120
118
123
Cardiganshire
130
135
122
130
133
139
Carnarvonshire
119
118
121
121
120
126
Merionethshire
124
122
120
130
127
132
Monmouthshire
75
74
66
73
79
90
Counties and County Boroughs
Speaking English.
Speaking Welsh.
Speaking both Languages.
1901.
1911.
Ratio.
1901.
1911.
Ratio.
1901.
1911.
Ratio.
Wales and Monmouthshire
846
887
105
499
435
87
348
350
101
Monmouthshire (including County Borough)
990
955
96
130
96
74
123
92
75
Monmouthshire Administrative County
989
953
96
157
116
74
148
111
75
Newport County Borough
994
965
97
37
26
70
36
26
72
Glamorganshire (including County Boroughs)
928
939
101
435
381
88
369
350
95
Glamorgan Administrative County
905
936
103
548
463
84
457
424
93
Cardiff County Borough
987
950
96
81
67
83
79
65
82
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough
923
948
103
571
502
88
498
467
94
Swansea County Borough
959
941
98
324
271
84
291
252
87
Anglesey
517
610
118
917
887
97
437
525
120
Brecknockshire
906
929
103
459
415
90
366
359
98
Cardiganshire
493
641
130
930
896
96
426
554
130
Carmarthenshire
643
778
121
904
849
94
548
644
118
Carnarvonshire
522
622
119
896
856
96
419
500
119
Denbighshire
816
883
108
619
567
92
436
466
107
Flintshire
924
942
102
491
422
86
416
388
93
Merionethshire
493
613
124
937
903
96
431
536
124
Montgomeryshire
843
881
105
475
448
94
319
341
107
Pembrokeshire
880
900
102
344
324
94
225
247
110
Radnorshire
997
987
99
62
54
87
60
53
88
WALES.
Proportion per 1,000 of the
population over 3 years of age
speaking Welsh.SCOTLAND.
Proportion per 1,000 of the
population over 3 years of age
speaking Gaelic.IRELAND.
Proportion per 1,000 of the
population over 3 years of age
speaking Irish.Merrionethshire
903
Ross and Cromarty
677
Galway
570
Cardiganshire
896
Sutherland
618
Mayo
489
Anglesey
887
Inverness
591
Kerry
404
Carnarvonshire
856
Argyll
484
Clare
371
Carmarthenshire
849
Donegal
370