British Empire Population Medal - Coin Community Forum

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Author	Replies: 6 / Views: 1,421
D Pillar of the Community Canada 899 Posts	Posted 01/03/2012 7:32 pm I don't see these very often and thought I would share this population medal from the British Empire, India & foreign possessions. Although there is no date on this medal there is information which leads me to believe it is from 1821. Historical Population Of England ·1801 - 8,308,000 at the time of the first (one off) Census (probably underestimated) Census officials estimated at the time that there had been an increase of 77% in the preceding 100 years. In each county women were in the majority. Wrigley and Schofield estimate 8,664,000 based on birth and death records. ·1811 - 9,496,000 ·1821 - 11,158,000 ·1831 - 12,993,000 ·1841 - 14,866,000 (beginning of regular censuses) Could it be that this population medal was made as a commemorative type to coincide with the coronation of George IV in 1821.? Report this Post to the Staff

Apollo Pillar of the Community Canada 1610 Posts	Posted 01/03/2012 7:38 pm I don't know, but that medal is really awesome, is it big? Report this Post to the Staff
D Pillar of the Community Canada 899 Posts	Posted 01/03/2012 7:45 pm Thanks 10x....It is a good size at just over 2 inches ( 51.17mm ) Report this Post to the Staff
Sap Moderator Australia 16817 Posts	Posted 01/03/2012 8:57 pm Quote: Could it be that this population medal was made as a commemorative type to coincide with the coronation of George IV in 1821? I would say it coincided with the public release of the final count results, rather than the coronation. I'm not sure how long it took them to count up the 28th May 1821 census, but it seems to have taken over a year. Within a few weeks newspapers had started to report statistics for their local area, but the "11,261,437" number the medal reports for England as a whole doesn't appear in newspapers until late August 1822, which probably gives a good time period for your medal. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis Report this Post to the Staff
svslav Pillar of the Community United States 2605 Posts	Posted 01/03/2012 8:57 pm It does look like this could be a medal of (or around) 1821. It's issue coincides with the beginning of reign? - Very likely! For coronation? - I doubt it! They do a number of special coronation medals (much more attractive!). I'm not sure what the (contemporary) demographic for this type of artifact would be; it's a very curious one, though! There's a couple of things I find interesting: 1) While the title is "Population of the British Empire" they itemize the British Isles only and lump "India and other foreign possessions" together. 2) Look at the precision of the census, down to the singles, except Ireland - 5,500,000, and Dublin - "no estimate". It's as if they didn't dare to venture into Ireland and took a pretty general "guesstimate" on it. Report this Post to the Staff
D Pillar of the Community Canada 899 Posts	Posted 01/04/2012 12:12 am sap...census usually do take a year so the 1822 count is a very reasonable date time frame. Either way 1821 - 1822 I am happy with.. svslav...your second point is very interesting as I have noticed that also. Its almost as if politics comes into play. Unfortunately there is no makers mark or name on this medal that could be researched. One thing I found interesting on the India side is they used the word "millions" where we would today say 82 million.. Thanks for the input guys.... Edited by D 01/04/2012 12:15 am Report this Post to the Staff
augsburger Pillar of the Community Germany 1063 Posts	Posted 01/04/2012 12:51 am Gordon Brown might say millions too. I don't know whether he used this just in financial terms or not but he used millions. Report this Post to the Staff
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