British Peerage

Papers and correspondence relating to research and the publication of the study of the Demography of the British Peerage by Thomas H. Hollingsworth, 15 Jan 1958 - 6 Aug 1969. Includes tabulated statistics, draft appendices for publication, press cuttings relating to the study, peerage and Thomas Hollingsworth, proposal to publish study as a supplement to Population Studies, and book reviews. Also includes the application of the Population Investigation Committee to the Rockefeller Foundation for funding, 1960.

1958-1969

1 file (in 2 parts)

Research into the British Peerage is first mentioned in the Annual Report of the PIC for 1959-1960. An attempt to contribute knowledge to the field was at the suggestion of the PIC by Thomas Henry Hollingsworth, who had previously carried out a study of the demography of British Ducal families. This previous research was limited and no real pin-pointing of change could be done. As a result, the Committee initiated a full scale study in 1959. It was financed by a Senior Sociological Scholarship awarded to Hollingsworth by the Nuffield Foundation, $10000 granted to the Committee by the Rockefeller Foundation, and £1000 from the Eugenics Society.

Initially the inquiry was to cover the whole of the peerage from Dukes to Barons, with legitimate children of all peers dying between 1603-1901. It was estimated that the total number of individuals would be 35,000. However the result was much smaller. In 1961 it was decided to extend the study to include the legitimate children of all peers dying up to 1938. The result of the research was published as a supplement in Population Studies in Nov 1964.