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Sons of St. Patrick: Quality of Life and Heights of Young Irish Males at Mid-Nineteenth Century

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Abstract

An index of the quality of life for children in Ireland’s four provinces containing thirty-two counties is generated from three domains of information in the (1841) census of Ireland. The average of three regression-weighted indexes derived from educational, demographic and housing data is labelled the Quality of Life for Irish Children—1841 (QUALIC’41). Heights of 1,032 army recruits generated a sub-set of 735 males between the ages of 17 and 20 years. Their heights were indexed to those of the general population in the Galton committee report of 1883. Height indexes are presented and analyzed. The QUALIC’41 index is assessed as a predictor of heights in the late teen years. The heights are compared with Scottish heights from the same period, and are assessed for differences due to the presence of the 1845 famine in the growth pattern of some recruits.

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Acknowledgments

I wish to express my thanks to Professor Roderick Floud for access to his data, to the University of Essex ESCR Data Archives, and to Paula Steger for her assistance.

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  1. University of Missouri, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Thomas E. Jordan

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  1. Thomas E. Jordan
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Correspondence to Thomas E. Jordan.

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Jordan, T.E. Sons of St. Patrick: Quality of Life and Heights of Young Irish Males at Mid-Nineteenth Century. Soc Indic Res 102, 389–408 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-010-9601-z

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