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Numbers and Ireland. A happy meeting of obsessions. Today it's time for a round-up.

I was shocked to find that I had lots of numbers missing from my giant production spreadsheet. I've spent the last week filling some of those holes. And have come up with a lovely new table. All fresh and shiny. here it is:


UK Beer production 1850 - 1922
England and Wales Scotland Ireland total UK
barrels % barrels % barrels %
1850 14,420,069 93.16% 476,000 3.08% 582,500 3.76% 15,478,569
1857 16,326,773 90.78% 616,000 3.43% 1,042,000 5.79% 17,984,773
1860 18,384,096 90.38% 816,000 4.01% 1,140,000 5.60% 20,340,096
1863 18,005,908 89.66% 893,000 4.45% 1,182,500 5.89% 20,081,408
1864 19,106,461 89.45% 986,000 4.62% 1,268,000 5.94% 21,360,461
1865 20,061,389 88.98% 1,111,000 4.93% 1,374,500 6.10% 22,546,889
1866 22,634,100 89.15% 1,254,000 4.94% 1,500,500 5.91% 25,388,600
1871 23,588,104 89.24% 1,227,000 4.64% 1,616,656 6.12% 26,431,760
1875 27,927,381 90.05% 1,179,000 3.80% 1,908,000 6.15% 31,014,381
1880 27,616,649 89.83% 1,143,000 3.72% 1,983,000 6.45% 30,742,649
1881 24,425,861 89.30% 1,037,000 3.79% 1,889,500 6.91% 27,352,361
1885 24,603,993 87.91% 1,237,000 4.42% 2,145,500 7.67% 27,986,493
1890 26,794,315 86.97% 1,666,000 5.41% 2,348,000 7.62% 30,808,315
1895 30,110,787 87.52% 1,758,000 5.11% 2,535,500 7.37% 34,404,287
1900 32,146,769 86.64% 2,289,048 6.17% 2,669,225 7.19% 37,105,042
1905 30,594,189 86.39% 2,021,374 5.71% 2,799,960 7.91% 35,415,523
1910 29,284,045 85.38% 1,956,659 5.70% 3,059,210 8.92% 34,299,914
1914 31,737,384 84.50% 2,288,981 6.09% 3,532,902 9.41% 37,558,767
1915 29,310,783 84.31% 2,042,477 5.87% 3,412,520 9.82% 34,765,780
1916 26,914,428 83.82% 1,917,148 5.97% 3,279,032 10.21% 32,110,608
1917 25,497,825 84.53% 1,816,003 6.02% 2,850,170 9.45% 30,163,988
1918 16,340,250 85.62% 1,141,114 5.98% 1,603,679 8.40% 19,085,043
1919 20,133,048 86.54% 1,325,439 5.70% 1,806,096 7.76% 23,264,533
1920 29,891,845 85.29% 2,186,604 6.24% 2,969,498 8.47% 35,047,947
1921 28,927,178 83.84% 2,096,080 6.07% 3,481,312 10.09% 34,504,570
1922 25,486,663 84.45% 1,770,175 5.87% 2,939,893 9.74% 30,178,731
Sources:
Brewers' Almanack 1928, p. 110
“A History of the Brewing Industry in Scotland” by IanDonnachie, 1998, pages 147-148.
Statistics of British commerce by Braithwaite Poole, 1852, page 6.
“Bericht über der Welt_Ausstellung zu Paris im Jahre 1867, volume 7”, 1868, page 119.
Ireland Industrial and Agricultural, 1902, page 492
The Dynamics of the international brewing industry since 1800 by Richard George Wilson, Terence Richard Gourvish, 1998, pages 121 - 122, estimated from malt used

Before you say "But how does that compare to population, here's a table showing just that:


UK Population 1841 - 1911
England and Wales Scotland Ireland total
population % UK Pop population % UK Pop population % UK Pop
1841 17,435,700 61.76% 2,618,000 9.27% 8,177,700 28.97% 28,231,400
1851 17,932,400 65.51% 2,889,000 10.55% 6,554,000 23.94% 27,375,400
1861 20,063,000 69.44% 3,063,000 10.60% 5,768,300 19.96% 28,894,300
1871 22,715,000 72.15% 3,362,000 10.68% 5,405,600 17.17% 31,482,600
1881 25,974,300 74.46% 3,734,000 10.70% 5,174,900 14.83% 34,883,200
1891 29,001,400 76.82% 4,046,000 10.72% 4,704,800 12.46% 37,752,200
1901 32,527,800 78.46% 4,472,100 10.79% 4,458,700 10.75% 41,458,600
1911 36,072,500 79.76% 4,760,900 10.53% 4,390,200 9.71% 45,223,600
Source:
http://www.populstat.info/

Beer production increased in Ireland and Scotland in the second half of the 19th century. Both in absolute amount brewed and percentage of UK beer production.

Let's look at Scotland first. It had about 10% of the UK population throughout the period under analysis.But it's beer production was always well below 10% of the UK total. The best it could manage was 6.24%.

Ireland is more complicated. The percentage of the UK population living in Ireland dropped from almost 30% to around 10% between 1841 and 1911. Perversely, beer production increased, despite the falling population, more quickly than in Scotland. Eventually beer production reached about the same percentage as the population. Meaning that, per head, Ireland was producing as much beer as England and Wales.

here's another table, showing beer production per head of population:


Beer output per head of population 1850 - 1910
England and Wales Scotland Ireland
beer production population barrels per head beer production population barrels per head beer production population barrels per head
1850 14,420,069 17,932,400 0.80 476,000 2,889,000 0.16 582,500 6,554,000 0.09
1860 18,384,096 20,063,000 0.92 816,000 3,063,000 0.27 1,140,000 5,768,300 0.20
1871 23,588,104 22,715,000 1.04 1,227,000 3,362,000 0.36 1,616,656 5,405,600 0.30
1881 24,425,861 25,974,300 0.94 1,037,000 3,734,000 0.28 1,889,500 5,174,900 0.37
1890 26,794,315 29,001,400 0.92 1,666,000 4,046,000 0.41 2,348,000 4,704,800 0.50
1900 32,146,769 32,527,800 0.99 2,289,048 4,472,100 0.51 2,669,225 4,458,700 0.60
1910 29,284,045 36,072,500 0.81 1,956,659 4,760,900 0.41 3,059,210 4,390,200 0.70

I think that shows more clearly how Scotland still lagged behind England while Ireland was closing in fast.

Of course, Ireland's success in upping beer production was almost entirely due to the efforst of one firm: Guinness. By the end of the 19th century it wasn't only the largest brewery in the UK, but the largest in the whole world. Quite an achievement.


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