Statistics Relative to Nova Scotia in 1851

“The constitution of Nova Scotia is a representative provincial government. The Lieutenant-Governor, who is subordinate to the Governor-General of British North America, is commander within the province; and the supreme civil as well as military authority under him, is a council of twelve members, of whom the bishop and chief justice are members ex officio, and the rest appointed by the Crown. The legislative assembly consists of a body of forty-one members, elected by 40s. freeholders. It is elected, like the British House of Commons, for seven years, but may be prorogued or dissolved by the Lieutenant-Governor. It meets every year, and all money bills must originate in this assembly; other bills require the consent of the Governor and council before they become law. For the purposes of election, Nova Scotia is divided into ten counties. The counties have two members each, and the other representatives are returned by the towns. Justice is administered by a Court of Queen’s Bench, sitting at Halifax, and by district courts in the different counties. The common and statute law of England are in force. The laws are, on the whole, considered judicious, and, as far as they go, calculated to promote the prosperity of the colony, but the harmony of society is too often broken by a love of litigation.”

“Church of England is the established religion, and in 1838 the colony was divided into thirty-two parishes, each of which had a rector salaried by the Crown, or by the society for the propagation of the gospel. Nova Scotia was made a bishopric in 1787, the diocese extending over New Brunswick and Prince Edward’s Island, Newfoundland and the Bermudas.”

Census of the Province of Nova Scotian in 1851

Sex	Age
	Under 10	10 to 20	20 to 30	30 to 40	40 to 50	Above 50	Total
Male	44,000	33,791	20,277	14,615	10,616	14,378	137,677
Female	43,452	33,444	22,385	14,665	10,271	14,223	138,440
Total	87,452	67,235	42,662	29,280	20,887	28,601	276,117

Table I: Census of the Province of Nova Scotian in 1851

Condition of the People

Males		Females
Married	39,351	Married	39,351
Widowers	2,238	Widowers	5,916
Bachelors	52,088	Spinsters	49,721
Boys (under 10)	44,000	Girls (under 10)	43,452
Total	137,677	Total	138,440

Table II: Condition of the People

Occupation, Pursuit, or Calling of a large proportion of the inhabitants

Clergymen	288	Farmers	31,604
Lawyers	143	Engaged in the fisheries	9,927
Doctors	145	Registered seamen	1,413
Merchants and traders	2,415	Employed at sea	3,961
Employed in manufactories	3,200	Engaged in lumbering	1,254
Mechanics	8,895

Table III: Occupation, Pursuit, or Calling of a large proportion of the inhabitants

	Blind	Deaf and Dumb	Idiots	Lunatics	Total
Males	74	132	176	76	458
Females	62	98	123	90	373
Total	136	230	299	166	831

Table IV: Blind, Deaf and Dumb, Idiots and Lunatics

[indigenous persons] and black Persons]

	[indigenous persons]	black Persons]	Total
Males	524	2,321	2,845
Females	532	2,587	3,119
Total	1,056	4,908	5,964

Table V: [indigenous persons] and black Persons]

Crops, Grain and otherwise

Wheat	297,157	bushels	Peas and beans	21,638	bushels
Barley	196,097	bushels	Grass seeds	3,686	bushels
Rye	61,438	bushels	Potatoes	1,986,789	bushels
Oats	1,384,437	bushels	Turnips	467,127	bushels
Buck-wheat	170,301	bushels	Other roots	32,325	bushels
Indian corn	37,475	bushels	Hay	287,837	tons

Table VI: Crops, Grain and otherwise

Live stock

Horses	28,789	Sheep	282,180
Neat Cattle	156,857	Swine	51,533
Milch Cows	85,856

Table VII: Live stock

Fisheries in 1851

Vessels employed	812	Quantity of fish oil	189,250*
Tonnage	43,333	Value of ditto in £	17,754
Men	3,681	Quantity of dry fish cured	196,434*
Boats employed	5,161	Salmon in barrels	1,669
Men	6,713	Shad	3,536
Quantity of smoked herrings	15,409*	Mackerel	100,047
Value of ditto in £	217,270	Herrings	53,200
Nets and seines	30,154	Alewives	5,343
* In the returns there is nothing to show what these numbers indicate

Table VIII: Fisheries in 1851

Coals, Lime, Bricks and Gypsum

Coal raised, in chaldrons	114,992	Gypsum quarried, in tons	79,795
Baskets of lime burnt	28,603	Value of ditto in £	10,498
Value of ditto in £	4,433	Grindstones quarried , in tons	37,540
Bricks made	2,845,400	Value of ditto in £	5,857
Value of ditto in £	3,211

Table IX: Coals, Lime, Bricks and Gypsum

Manufactories

Mills, Factories, &c.	Number	Value in £	Hands employed
Saw mills	1,153	89,869	1,786
Grist mills	398	72,649	437
Steam mills or factories	10	…	…
Tanneries	237	26,762	374
Foundries	9	12,900	138
Weaving and carding establishments	81	11,690	119
Hand looms	11,096	24,486	…
Breweries and distilleries	17	6,032	42
Other factories	131	14,382	185

Table X: Manufactories

Iron smelted	in tons	400	Agricultural implements	value in £	16,640
Value of ditto	in £	4,635	Charis and cabinet ware	value in £	11,155
Value of castings	in £	3,486	Carriages	value in £	9,491
Flannel	in yds.	219,352	Other wooden ware	value in £	19,233
Fulled cloth	in yds.	119,698	Boots and shoes	value in £	73,654
Cloth not fulled	in yds.	790,104	Leather	value in £	52,625
Malt liquor	in galls.	78,076	Soap	value in £	28,277
Distilled liquor	in galls.	11,900	Candles	value in £	21,210
Maple sugar	in lbs.	110,441

Manufactories, continued

Shipping

Counties	Entered Inwards		Cleared Outwards
	Ships	Tonnage	Ships	Tonnage
Great Britain	97	27,886	102	29,739
British Colonies	2,517	149,631	2,815	179,712
United States	1,211	136,580	1,266	139,427
Foreign	181	18,039	49	5,299
Total	4,006	332,136	4,232	354,177

Table XI: Shipping

Religious Denominations

Church of England	36,482	Methodists	23,596
Roman Catholics	69,634	Copngregationalists	2,639
Kirk of Scotland	18,867	Universalists	580
Presbyterian Church of Nova Scotia	28,767	Lutherans	4,087
Free Church	25,280	Sandemanians	101
Baptists	42,243	Quakers	188
		Other denominations	3,791

Table XII: Religious Denominations

Houses, Buildings, &c.

Inhabited houses	41,455	Paupers	1,072
Families	45,541	Rate payers	38,388
Uninhabited houses	2,028	Probable value of real estate in £	8,050,923
Houses building	2,347
Stores, barns, and outhouses	52,758

Table XIII: Houses, Buildings, &c.

Cheshire, Edward. “Statistics Relative to Nova Scotia in 1851.” Journal of the Statistical Society of London, vol. 17, no. 1, 1854, pp. 73–80. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2338357. Accessed 9 June 2021.