Hi Monica, Thanks you for the photo link I had not seen those but I did look at others on the same site. What really stands out to me is just how small the homes seem to be, on the 1911 census there is 6 children living at No 8 Holyrood Square with my distant cousin and her husband. In the first 9 years of marriage they had 8 children with two sadly dying, they then had a further 4. All of this in a home with only two rooms that had windows and they were probably the only rooms they had. One of the later children died just a few months old of accidental scalding and I wonder if that was due to the size of their rooms. When my cousin died at 42 the cause was peritonitis thought to be due an appendiciitis but I wonder if exhaustion from bringing up so many children may have been a factor.
I know large families at that time were a consequence of little contraception but 12 with one wife is just ridiculous.
Stuart
