Ellen Clegg

During the century before its final evacuation in 1930 the population of St Kilda declined from over 100 to 36. While undoubtedly emigration and natural disasters played a part in this depopulation, ongoing processes were also important. In particular, replacement levels were never sufficient to maintain a constant population size. In the early part of this period the main factor responsible was heavy neonatal mortality, almost all from tetanus (), but latterly the fertility of those who survived was low, even though mortality rates had declined. In part at least, this decline in fertility could be ascribed to a lower frequency of marriage—a phenomenon seen elsewhere in the Outer Hebrides during the latter part of the 19th century

Some factors affecting marital distances have been studied in two Outer Hebridean islands, Harris (843 marriages) and Barra (444 marriages), over the period 1855-1990. In each island marital distances fell before 1900, but then rose to their greatest values after the 1950s. Fishermen generally married at the shortest distances and men in land-based occupations at the longest. The depression in the fishing industry during the 1880s and early 1890s was associated with reductions in marital distances, especially among fishermen. In the different regions of Harris, marital distances were least in the south-east, where settlement was most dense, and greatest in the south-west where it was most sparse

SummaryData are presented on age at menarche and adult stature in 905 women from the islands of Lewis and Harris, born between 1920 and 1949. Menarcheal age showed no tendency to fall in women born between 1920 and 1935, but thereafter successive year-of-birth groups showed an almost continous decline. There were no significant changes in stature in successive groups.The changes have been correlated with trenda in affluence, as indicated by unemployment levels. In women born between 1932 and 1941 there was good agreement between average unemployment during various periods of childhood and menarcheal age, but among later-born individuals the relationship broke down. It is suggested that during the earlier period unemployment was associated with some degree of biological deprivation, but that during the later period the introduction of rationing and later, of the Welfare State, buffered the growing child against economic hardship.Mean household size fell over the period of study, but its pattern of change was different from that of menarcheal age. It is suggested that this factor played at most aminor role in fluencing the results of the investigation.