Intra-urban residential mobility was an important factor of change in the social and spatial structure of the Victorian town, yet surprisingly little is known about its detailed extent and form. Firstly, sources and techniques that may be used to study nineteenth-century residential mobility are considered; secondly, current knowledge about Victorian mobility in Britain and America is reviewed; and, thirdly, a case study of mobility in Liverpool, 1851 -61 and 1871-81 is presented. Persistence rates at the same address in Liverpool are found to be uniformly low, with the most important controlling variables being socio-economic group, housing tenure, life-cycle stage and migrant status. Particularly high rates of intra-urban residential mobility are found among lower-status households in the family-building stage of the life cycle. Most moves are of short distance with higher-status households tending to move over the longer distances in Liverpool. Variations in frequency, distance and direction of movement are also closely linked to the spatial structure of mid-Victorian Liverpool, and it is suggested that despite high mobility rates many working-class areas maintained a degree of stability of character because of the short distances over which most people moved. Finally, the effect of population mobility on stability and change in the different social areas of Liverpool is assessed, and a simple representation of the nineteenth-century mobility process is presented. MANY studies of nineteenth-century cities have relied on the census enumerators' books as a major data source.I While these provide a wealth of information on the social and economic structure of a town, they limit analysis to a series of static cross-sections of society at decennial intervals, precluding the study of dynamic processes of change within urban society. Population mobility was perhaps the most important of these processes. Individual decisions about residential choice lead to social and spatial change in the structure of the city and produce distinctive social areas.2 Though the reasons for individual moves in the past can only be obtained from rare personal records such as diaries,3 it is possible to gain comprehensive information on population turnover and on the variables controlling patterns of mobility in the city from a combination of sources. Such studies are essential if we are to interpret fully the recent ecological studies of urban structure.4 This paper falls into three main sections. First, the sources and techniques which may be used in the study of residential mobility in British cities are assessed; secondly, current knowledge about mobility in Britain and America is appraised; and, thirdly, the results of a detailed study of population mobility in mid-Victorian Liverpool are presented. The analysis emphasizes the variables affecting the mobility process, the possible ways in which individual decisions on mobility were reached and the degree to which different rates of mobility were associated with areas of stability and change within a town. The study of such themes may help to relate successive cross-sections of urban structure to a more dynamic model of social and spatial change within the Victorian city. SOURCES AND TECHNIQUES FOR THE STUDY OF RESIDENTIAL MOBILITY Systematic studies of residential mobility in the nineteenth-century city are mostly very recents and the methodology and techniques involved are still in an early stage of development. One 258 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.162 on Thu, 11 Aug 2016 05:35:13 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Residential mobility 259 major problem is the lack of a comprehensive data source. The analysis of residential mobility requires a time-series of directly comparable population listings, and in Britain mobility studies can be undertaken by matching census records, directories, rate-books and electoral rolls. Unfortunately, these do not give equally comprehensive listings of the population and thus they are not directly comparable. Furthermore, there are several different ways in which mobility can be measured. These vary according to the sources used and the aims of the study: each method has its limitations and none is directly comparable with any other, thus making difficult any synthesis of information on population mobility. Table I summarizes some of the approaches which may be adopted. These range from the simple study of persistence within a city, calculated by comparing census (or in the U.S.A., assessment) listings, through decadal and annual persistence rates in one area of the town or at a precise address, to the actual pattern of individual moves related to a series of variables such as distance and direction of move, and the social, economic and housing status of both the mover and the residential area. In rare cases information may be available from diaries or, for the late Victorian period, oral history,6 from which we can gain insight into the reasons for particular