Statistics of grave-yards in Scotland / by John Webster.

  • Webster, John.
Date:
[1855?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Statistics of grave-yards in Scotland / by John Webster. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the contrary, whose population amounted to 73,227 persons, 49 were 90 and upwards, which gives a ratio of one nonagenarian to every 1,494 inhabitants, or nearly three times the proportion re¬ ported to exist in Glasgow ; thus proving the general truth of every former observation. In Edinburgh, which contained 59 residents aged 90 and upwards, in a population of 161,648, the ratio indi¬ cated was that of one nonagenarian in every 2,739 ; whilst at Perth, 10 persons, in a population of 25,441, had passed their 89th year, thus giving a proportion of one person to every 2,547 residents who had reached four score and ten, a mark of longevity superior either to Glasgow or Edinburgh, but inferior to Aberdeen. In Greenock the comparative ratio was one nonagenarian in every 7,337 inhabitants ; and in Dundee, one in 4,933. Thus Aberdeen stands pre-eminent in reference to the large comparative number of very old people. By comparing the statistics of longevity in various populous dis¬ tricts of England with the same statistics in Scotland, some curious facts appear. In Manchester, the proportion of people, 90 years old and upwards, during 1851, was as one to every 6,688 inha¬ bitants ; in Liverpool, one to 5,295 ; in Birmingham, one to 4,477; in Hull, one to 4,457 ; in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, one to 3,376; in London, one to 3,360 ; in Tynemouth, one to 1,458 ; and in Bath, as many as one to every 919 inhabitants, exhibiting the largest existing proportion of patriarchal residents of any locality through¬ out Great Britain. This peculiarity in Bath applied, however, chiefly to females : since fifty women here residing had attained, and even passed, their 90th year; whilst only nine men had reached that advanced age. But it should be recollected, that the oldest individual whose death has recently been chronicled in Scotland was a native of Bath. This was the man who died at Dundee, when 114 years old. This city must therefore be deemed salubri¬ ous, and a congenial residence for aged persons. Instances of longevity being usually considered as more common amongst the inhabitants of Scotland, than amongst those of the southern portions of the British island, one or two remarks upon this point will not be irrelevant. Without doubt, many exceed¬ ingly old persons have been residents in north Britain; but there are no examples of such patriarchal ages as those often met with in England. The very oldest individual whose death I find re¬ corded throughout Scotland—setting aside George Watt, previ¬ ously mentioned—was a gentleman named John Bousey, who died in 1736, at Distrey, aged 138 years. The next was a gentleman named Robertson, who died near Edinburgh, in 1793, aged 137. He was an inspector of lead works—not the most healthy avocation -—and had been so employed in these works, it is reported, during 124 years. The third Scottish patriarch was John Mount, who died at Langham, Dumfriesshire, in 1766, 136 years old. The oldest female known to have died in Scotland, was the Mary Cameron men¬ tioned when speaking of Aberdeen; whilst the next in seniority