This article uses census data for England and Wales covering the period 1851-1911 to provide new insights into patterns of migration to London. It examines several related themes including the role migration played in London's growth during this period, age and gender differentials, and distance travelled. Calculating net migration rates, the article demonstrates that after age 30, of those born outside of London, more left the Capital than came, yet over time an increasing proportion of the migrant population was retained. The proportion of family migrants fluctuated over the period, yet compared to others tended to travel shorter distances, a feature which increased over time with suburbanisation. Turning to the geographical origins of migrants, London drew migrants from across the entirety of England and Wales. However, the data suggest that the migrant sex ratio became more homogeneous over time, with distinct pockets of male dominated migration that were visible in 1851 disappearing by 1911. Lastly, the article investigates migration from the perspective of place of departure rather than destination, as is traditionally the case. This reveals a distinct regional geography, suggesting that the present-day north-south divide was already evident in 1851, and became increasingly distinct over time.

BACKGROUND The process and timing of leaving home represents a major demographic transition which has an impact on other demographic events such as migration and marriage. OBJECTIVE This paper aims to accurately measure the leaving home process across England and Wales in 1881 at a high spatial resolution and to analyse the determinants of regional disparities in the leaving home process. The paper is designed to shift the focus away from the household-and individual-level determinants of leaving home and to the relationship with the socioeconomic context. METHODS This paper uses data from the complete individual-level returns from the 1881 census of England and Wales. Using standard demographic techniques to adjust for parental mortality, a spatial framework is used to analyse the relationship between the leaving home process and the socioeconomic context. Moran's global and local i is used to identify spatially-determined variables such that their effect on the age at leaving home can be evaluated in an OLS model. RESULTS The leaving home process exhibits a clear spatial pattern related to the institution of service. Poor households responded to hardship by either retaining or ejecting children from the home depending on the prevalence of service. CONTRIBUTION This article adds to the literature on the leaving home process by mapping variations in the mean age at leaving home across England and Wales in 1881 rather than relying on small region-specific samples. Through the comprehensive use of the census, this process can be linked to the socioeconomic context, thereby explicating households' varying responses to poverty in 19 th century England and Wales.

We use individual-level census data for England and Wales for the period 1851-1911 to investigate the interplay between social class and geographical context determining patterns of childbearing during the fertility transition. We also consider the effect of spatial mobility or lifetime migration on individual fertility behavior in the early phases of demographic modernization. Prior research on the fertility transition in England and Wales has demonstrated substantial variation in fertility levels and declines by different social groups; however, these findings were generally reported at a broad geographical level, disguising local variation and complicated by residential segregation along social class and occupational lines. Our findings confirm a clear pattern of widening social class differences in recent net fertility, providing strong support for the argument that belonging to a certain social group was an important determinant of early adoption of new reproductive behavior in marriage in England and Wales. However, a relatively constant effect of lower net fertility among long-distance migrants both before the transition and in the early phases of declining fertility indicates that life course migration patterns were most likely factor in explaining the differences in fertility operating through postponement of marriage and childbearing.

If migration between 1851 and 1911 is to be analysed using individual-level census data, it must be proven that individuals' place of birth was reliably recorded. However, existing studies have primarily been concerned with establishing only the level of absolute error, rather than how such errors were introduced. Through assessing the determinants of inaccuracy in the 1851-1911 censuses, this article finds that while birthplaces were generally reported accurately, the errors which did exist were not only the fault of the individual in question, but also of the householder whose responsibility it was to fill in the census form, and of those charged with transcribing the original, handwritten schedules into a machine-readable format. By demonstrating that individuals' ability to identify their place of birth was a function of their age and the distance they migrated from their place of birth, rather than either their intelligence or familiarity with their place of birth per se, shows that individuals' ability to identify their birthplace accurately was a function of the relevance it held in their lives. Consequently, this article argues that individuals' ability to identify their place of birth reflected its role as a component of their identity, becoming less relevant the further from it they became, but increasingly relevant as they aged.

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