The Seasonality of Marriages and Baptisms in some Devon Seafaring Parishes

Abstract

This article shows that, for a sample of Devon parishes during the period c.1700–1850, there were seasonalities in the events of marriages and baptisms in general, but that in parishes linked to seafaring, especially in the Newfoundland trade, the seasonal patterns were much greater and occurred in different months. Seasonal variations also declined and changed over time, which in part was due to the changing economies of the maritime parishes, especially after 1800 when the Newfoundland trade changed and declined. It cannot be claimed that this trade was exclusively responsible for the seasonal pattern, but the results confirm that seafaring was linked to the variation in the number of marriages and baptisms from month to month.