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The infantile mortality rate in the Metropolis, always below that of Kensington, was 131, as
compared with an average proportion of 158 per 1,000 in the ten preceding years.
The lowest rates in Metropolitan Boroughs were, Hampstead 88, Lewisham 92, Holborn 95
and St. Marvlebone 96 ; the highest, Southwark 148, Poplar 154, Bermondsey 158 and Shoreditch
171.
In England and Wales the rate was 132, and 22 per 1,000 below the mean proportion in the
ten years 1893-1902.
In the 75 great towns of England and Wales (excluding London) the rate averaged 149,
ranging from 81 at Bournemouth, 84 at Hornsey and 93 at Burton-on-Trent, to 185 at Stockport,
186 at Middlesbrough and 217 at Burnley. The rate in Rural England was 118 per 1,000.
Table A, Appendix II. (page 109) gives the number of deaths under one year in Kensington,
and the rate per 1,000 of births registered (the "infantile mortality"), for each of the thirty-three
years, 1871-1903, during my tenure of office.
The deaths of children over one year and under five years of age were 258; the deaths under
five years therefore, were 768, compared with 877, 876 and 790, in the three preceding years, being
equal to 215 per 1,000 births ; the relative proportion in London, as a whole, being 196.
The deaths of illegitimate children under five years of age, 86, 96 and 67, in the three preceding
years respectively, were 79 in 1903, of which 73 were registered in the Town sub-district,
and 6 in Brompton. These deaths were equal to 52·3 per cent. on the 151 births registered as
illegitimate. Of the 79 children 19 only survived the first year of life.
Senile Mortality.— At sixty years of age and upwards there were 803 deaths, as compared
with 868, 800 and 956, in the three preceding years respectively. These deaths were equivalent to
315 per 1,000 deaths at all ages. The relative proportion in all London was 269 per 1,000.
District Rates of Mortality.— The table at page 11 shows (inter alia) the death-rate for
the year in the sub-districts, the parliamentary divisions, and the wards, and also for each of the
thirteen four-weekly periods covered by the monthly reports. As usual the rate was far higher in
the Town sub-district (15·5 per 1,000) than in the Brompton sub-district (9·3), and the same
observation applies to the parliamentary division of North Kensington (17·0), compared with the
southern division of the borough (10·4). In three of the wards in North Kensington, viz., St.
Charles (15·2), Golborne (18·0) and Norland (20·8), the death-rate exceeded that of the borough as
a whole (13·8 per 1,000). The rate in Pembridge Ward (12·9) and in each of the wards in South
Kensington was more or less largely below the rate for the borough as a whole. In the Notting-dale
"special area" (estimated population 4,000) in Norland Ward the death-rate was 39·7 per 1,000,
compared with 20·8 in the ward as a whole. The zymotic death-rate was 3·2 per 1,000 persons living,
more than double that of the borough as a whole (1·5). The deaths at all ages were 23 more than
the births; the deaths of children under one year of age being in the proportion of 338 per 1,000
on the births registered. The main facts with respect to vital and mortal statistics of this
distressful area, in 1903, which are of a more favourable character than in any one of the seven preceding
years, are summarised below.

* The enumerated population in 1901 was 3,975.