Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1874 edition. Excerpt: ...men, but 57 of those vessels were permanently settled at other ports. The Brixham trawlers, which according to Mr. Barry had decreased from 221 to 1(57 between 1852 and 1863, had really increased from about 70 to 85 during that interval. Mr. Barry's belief in the decline of the fisheries at Brixham was confirmed, however, by observing that, at the census of 1861, the population of the town of Brixham had decreased by 1237, or nearly one-fourth, since the census of 1851; but startling as this great falling off at first appeared to him, he found a ready explanation of it, and said (page 14): --"This extraordinary decrease may be accounted for in a great degree by the diminished number of fishing vessels." The census return for 1861, which showed so great a decrease in the town population, gave, however, a slight increase in that of the whole parish, which Mr. Barry does not mention, and probably did not observe; and the discrepancy has been explained by the RegistrarGeneral in a very simple manner, namely, that the limits of the town were first defined in 1851, and only about 300 of the population of the parish were then excluded; but in 1861, when more correct boundaries were fixed, about 1600 were excluded from the town. The apparent decrease was therefore solely due to the alteration of the town boundaries. In the census of 1871, the town population of Brixham is that included within the Local Board District Boundaries, which are not quite the same as those fixed in 1801. But the census returns for fishing towns like Brixham are really of little value, as the number of fishermen on shore on any particular day is subject to variation. For example, the last enumeration took place on a Sunday, when most of the smacks were in port, ...
