Thomas E. Jordan

An index of the quality of life for victorian children and youth, the vicy index

The range of life-styles of children in nineteenth century Britain is discussed. Concepts of quality-of-life are reviewed and a model for nineteenth century children is formulated. Annual data in three domains are indexed to 1914. Sub-indexes for these domains and a total index are presented and compared with the full index.

Social change, height, and body mass in Victorian youth, 1805–1914

A corpus of height studies from the period 1805-1914 was assembled. In the first of three studies the data were assessed for autocorrelation and for departure from linearity. In the second study, heights indexed to the P50 values identified by Tanner, Whitehouse and Takaishi (1966) were regressed on three economic variables, consecutively, in the presence of three ecological measures. In the third study, an estimate of Quetelets index (w/h2) was calculated for males in the years 1832-1911. Implications were derived from the analyses.

“L'Homme Moyen”: Estimating the quality of life for British adults, 1815–1914, an index

The potential value of a numerical, summating index to estimate the quality of Victorian peoples lives is described. Variables in three domains, Health, Economic and Social, are drawn on to describe the circumstances of life for Britons in the era 1815–1914. A range of variables is indexed to their 1914 value for each of the years between 1815 and 1914. The potential value of the index for the assessment of events, trends and policy initiatives is described.

A weighted index of quality of life for Irish children; 1841, 1851, and 1861

The concept of quality of life for children is presented and then formulated from data in the Irish censuses of 1841, 1851, and 1861. Seven to eleven variables for the three years were identified in the domains demography, education, and housing.The unit of geographical analysis is each of Irelands thirty two counties. For each county an overall index of quality of life (QUALIC) plus three sub-indexes is presented. Changes across the two decades, 1841–1861, in the regression-weighted index numbers are presented and discussed.

Children of the Mobility: A Street-level View of Early Victorian Children:

the illustrator for the Pickwick Papers. Shortly before drafting his sketches, ’Portraits of Children of the Mobility’, with text probably by Percival Leigh, he entered into a connection with Punch which lasted almost a quartercentury. At his death in 1864, he was interred near his school chum, William Makepeace Thackery. The latter always appreciated Leech’s gentle humour and amiability. The Dictionary of National Biography notes his talents for perceiving, storing and reproducing with his pen situations which were brief and transitory. In his portraits Leech reveals this grasp of street scenes whose ever-changing characters and briefly played-out dramas are caught in a wholly sympathetic way. In 1841, he published a work which reveals a good deal about the sensibilities of the Victorians in the early years of Queen Victoria’s reign (1837-1901). Portraits of Children of the Mobility is a combination of 8 plates and 47 pages of supporting text. The work was apparently successful for a time; inspection of the original plate 7 shows a date of 1843, rather than 1841.

Height and weight comparison of children in New Zealand and the United States.

HEIGHT AND weight data from two perinatal cohorts in the United States and in New Zealand are presented. All data were gathered as a part of prospective longitudinal inquiries known as the St. Louis Baby Study and the Dunedin Multi disciplinary Health and Development Study. Of note is the fact that inquiry has used individual children as the focus of inquiry, rather than group mem bership such as attending the same school or church. Excluded from analyses for the purpose of this report are children of non-European origin such as Maori or Black children. Data are reported metrically for height and weight and percentiles conform to international usage for the purpose of reporting. In general both groups of children are similar in initial height and weight, in the course of development at subsequent ages to 10 years, and also in the matter of increments in height and weight.

For Their Country's Good: The Convict Women of the Ship Harmony—1829

ABSTRACT The sailing vessel, Harmony, transported ninety six female convicts from Great Britain to Australia in 1829. The social background of the age cohorts, which cluster around birth years 1793 and 1805, are presented. The women came from Ireland, Scotland and England, and most were born in small towns or the country; seventeen were Londoners and an additional eleven came from large towns. The heights of the women are compared to economic indexes by a regression analysis in order to assay a secular trend. Heights are also compared to those of other women in the nineteenth century. Details of the voyage to Van Diemens Land are presented, as are facts concerning individual women.

Lancashire lasses and Yorkshire lads: Childhood in the early nineteenth century

to indulge in what persists of the Romantics’ eighteenth century of ’man as revealed by nature in childhood’ was purchased in the economic explosion of the Industrial Revolution. The price was paid by those who worked in the ’dark satanic mills’ of Blake whose poems and pictures were a witness to their age. Save for Blake’s testimony, literal, allegorical, or visual, little would persist in our Western culture to recall the price. Today, the economics of childhood around the world

Whitelaw's Essay on the Population of Dublin: A Window on Late Eighteenth-Century Housing

In 1922, during the Irish Civil War, the west wing of the Four Courts building was damaged by fire. The Public Records Office was destroyed and invaluable documents were lost to posterity, among them a set of tables in two folios devised by the Rev. Mr. James Whitelaw, incumbent of the large Dublin parish of St. Catherine’s. In five hundred tables, Whitelaw recorded the results of a survey of Dublin streets, houses, and residents that he conducted during five months beginning “early in the month of May, 1798.” 1

Two Thomases: Dublin Castle and The Quality of Life in Victorian Ireland

Administration of Ireland in the nineteenth century was carried out, principally, by three senior officials who were appointed by the current Prime Minister in London, and who served at his pleasure. There were two periods, 1835–1840, and 1853–1869, when Ireland was served by two outstanding men, Thomas Drummond and Thomas Larcom. Both men were trained as military engineers, and were well acquainted by both their membership in the Corps of Royal Engineers and by their shared participation in some projects of the civil government. Their paths to high office were different; Drummond distinguished himself by his skill at technology, and Larcom achieved wide recognition through his imaginative service in the mapping of Ireland. In their periods of service, these two Sappers further distinguished themselves by the quality and selflessness of their of their work. Improvement of quality in the life of the Irish people is documented by presentation of social indicators data from the period 1831–1871.