London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Kensington 1911
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington Borough]
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VITAL STATISTICS
The Metropolitan Borough of Kensington as constituted under the London Government Act,
1899, covers an area of 2,291 acres, and is co-extensive with the Civil Parish and Registration
District of the same name. The line of demarcation formed by Holland Park Avenue, High
Street, Notting Hill Gate and the Bayswater Road divides the Borough into approximately equal
halves described in previous years and in this Report as North and South Kensington respectively.
The Borough is further sub-divided into nine wards. South Kensington includes the wards of
Holland, Earl's Court, Queen's Gate, Redcliffe and Brompton, and is co-extensive with the South
Kensington Parliamentary Division. North Kensington, containing the wards of St Charles,
Golborne, Norland and Pembridge, is not co-terminous with the Parliamentary Division of the
same name, in that it extends northwards to include an area of 100 acres with a population of
3,600 persons which is still allotted, for parliamentary purposes only, to Chelsea. The rateable
value of the Borough is £2,419,344.
The following figures which show with sufficient accuracy the effects of emigration, must not be taken as exact since the decennium under consideration which ends for Census purposes in April, 1911, has been assumed to end on December 31st, 1910, in calculating the number of births and deaths.
| Decennium 1901-1910. | North Kensington. | South Kensington. | The Borough. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Births | 25,123 | 9,939 | 35,062 | |
| Number of Deaths | 15,910 | 9,007 | 24,917 | |
| Excess of Births over Deaths | 9,213 | 932 | 10,145 | |
| Census Population, 1901 | 91,018 | 85,610 | 176,628 | |
| Census Population, 1911 | 88,191 | 84.208 | 172,402 | |
| Decrease per cent, in 10 years | 3 | 1 | 2 | |
| Net Decrease in ten years | 2,824 | 1,402 | 4,226 | |
| Add excess of Births over Deaths | 9,213 | 932 | 10,145 | |
| Loss by excess of Emigration over Immigration | A. Total | 12,037 | 2,334 | 14,371 |
| B. Per cent. | 13 | 3 | 8 | |
From the figures given above it is evident that emigration from the northern half of the
Borough has proceeded at an alarming rate since the last Census, but the sub-districts in which the
loss has been greatest cannot be accurately defined until the populationss for the individual wards
have been published by the Registrar-General. For the present it will therefore be sufficient to
note that the magnitude of the loss in the Golborne Ward is undoubtedly masked by the increase
in the population of St. Charles' Ward, which has resulted from an influx of tenants into the new
houses on the St. Quintin's Park Estate. As the difficulty of finding tenants for the lodgings in
such Wards as Golborne increases, the housing problem becomes more and more perplexing.
Landlords find themselves in a dilemma where the choice lies between receiving the lowest class of
tenant and leaving their houses unoccupied. If they elect to take lodgers of doubtful character, their
property is knocked about and the rent is not paid. On the other hand if no more than half
the tenements in a lodging house are let to persons who pay regularly, and the rest of the house