Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Marshall, John (1783-1841)

by Gordon Goodwin

MARSHALL, JOHN (1783–1841), statistical writer, born in 1783, was for many years a supernumerary at the home office. In 1831 he was employed on the commission to inspect the boundaries of the cities and boroughs, for purposes of the Reform Bill, and made some disingenuous efforts to secure the enfranchisement of a few very small places. Marshall was subsequently made an inspector of factories. He died on 11 March 1841 in Stamford Street, Blackfriars.

Marshall compiled:

1. 'Topographical and Statistical Details of the county of Berks; exhibiting the population at each of the three periods 1801, 1811, and 1831,' 8vo, London, 1830.
2. ' An Account of the Population in each of six thousand of the towns and parishes in England and Wales, as returned to Parliament at each of the three periods 1801, 1811, and 1831,' 4to. London, 1831.
3. 'Alphabetical Index to the Topographical and Statistical Details in each of the 466 parishes, chantries, and townships in the County Palatine of Lancaster,' 8to, London, 1832.
4. 'Mortality of the Metropolis, 1639-1831,' 4to, London, 1832.
5. 'Topographical and Statistical Details of the Metropolis, showing the Population as returned to Parliament... 1801. 1811, 1821, and 1831,' 8vo, London, 1832.
6. 'A Digest of all the Accounts relating to the Population, Productions, Revenues, Financial Operations, Manufactures. Shipping, Colonies, Commerce of the United Kingdom,' 2 pts. 4to, London, 1833. Three thousand copies of this book, on the motion of Joseph Hume [q. v.], were purchased by the government at two guineas each, and distributed among the members of both houses of parliament, who treated them with the disrespect incidental to parliamentary papers.
7. 'An Analysis and Compendium of all the Returns made to Parliament (since the commencement of the nineteenth century) relating to the Increase of Population in Great Britain and Ireland,' 4to, London, 1835. Marshall also supervised a 'remodelled edition' of Brookes's 'London General Gazetteer,' 8vo, 1831.

[Gent. Mag. 1841, pt. i. pp. 548-9.]

G. G.