POPULATION OF IRELAND 1831-1926

Year Males Females Total
1831 3,794,880 3,972,521 7,767,401
1841 4,019,576 4,155,548 8,175,124
1851 3,190,630 3,361,755 6,552,385
1861 2,837,370 2,961,597 5,798,967
1871 2,639,753 2,772,624 5,412,377
1881 2,533,277 2,641,559 5,174,836
1891 2,318,953 2,385,797 4,704,750
1901 2,200,040 2,258,735 4,458,775
1911 2,192,048 2,198,171 4,390,219
1926 2,114,977 2,113,576 4,228,553

Between 1845 and 1850, about one million people died of famine and another million emigrated. There was a 20% fall in Ireland's population between 1841 and 1851. Every area except for Dublin and Belfast lost population; Ulster was less deeply ravaged than other parts.

ANTRIM FAMILIES AND HOUSES, 1926
There were 42,477 families in the county according to the 1926 Census for Ireland, the average number in each family was 4.48. The number of 'inhabited houses' was 41,896 with an average of 4.54 persons to each house.

This ties in well with Matheson's report and the mentions of Caldwell's in the Griffith's Reports.

ANALYSIS OF THE CENSUS FOR COUNTY ANTRIM, 1821-1926

Year Males Females Total Pop.
1821 111,572 122,034 233,606
1831 131,727 140,601 272,328
1841 137,533 148,034 285,567
1851 124,778 135,125 259,903
1861 122,491 134,495 256,986
1871 117,003 128,755 245,758
1881 113,464 124,274 237,738
1891 102,689 112,540 215,229
1901 94,087 102,003 196,090
1911 93,651 100,213 193,864
1926 92,596 99,047 191,643

Relative Population Densities 1891
Cavan 34
Tyrone 31
Antrim 23
Monaghan 18
Fermanagh 15
Derry 13
Armagh 10
Donegal 8
Down 3

The above table is my attempt to get the relative number of Caldwells to the proportion of people living in the various counties. The numbers are meaningless except as a comparision ot each other. A percentage of total population would come up as a tiny fraction so I have multiplied the number by 1000 to give the above comparison. I have also been bedevilled by the inability to find population statistics per county for any relevant year. I can find figures for all Ireland for many years and per county for 1991. After hours of trawling through the websites I have given up. If anyone can point me to a listing of Irish populations per county on or about 1860 and 1890 I would appreciate this very much. Due to my inability to get any closer I have interpolated the above values from the 1991 back to the all ireland 1891 figure. Not very accurate. Furthermore the Antrim figures are confounded by the inclusion of Belfast in 1991 so I have included an actual 1891 for Antrim that I had found. (See earlier table). Consequently the now greater urbanisation around Belfast and Londonderry may have also diminished the relativity of Down and Derry respectively. I propose to return to this work at a later date.

For the moment please take it as a "good try" but not erudite.

My conclusion is that Tyrone and Cavan were the early areas of the greatest concentrations of the Caldwell family.