Notes for Introduction

(i) Mentions of Aldershot and Aldershott in national and regional newspapers, 1848 to 1859:

As found in searches, via FindMyPast, in the collections held by the British Library.

(ii) Much of government action on the collection and production of statistics should be credited to Sir John Sinclair who advanced the methodology at the turn of the 19^th Century. A Scottish baronet, he sat at Westminster for various constituencies, including Petersfield in Hampshire, serving as the first President of the Board of Agriculture until 1813. He organised both the Statistical Accounts of Scotland and the County Agricultural Surveys of Great Britain, each dating from the 1790s. ‘Agricultural Sir John’ used the term statistical in a broad sense to mean the “inquiry into the state of a country, for the purpose of ascertaining the quantum of happiness enjoyed by its inhabitants, and the means of its future improvement.” He was amongst those who proposed that a national population census should be undertaken; it was first carried out in 1801. for England, Scotland and Wales,