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births. 3
BIRTHS.
In the course of the 52 weeks which made up the statistical year 2,909 births were
registered in the Borough, 1,462 of the children being boys and 1,447 girls, that total showing a
slight increase (14 births) above the figure for the preceding year. The annual average number
of births registered during the quinquennium 1905-09 was 3,091 and that for the preceding
quinquennium, 3,320, the corresponding figure for the whole decennium being 3,208, figures
which clearly show the shrinkage in the annual addition of new lives. Last year's uncorrected
birth rate was 19.08 per 1,000 persons, the mean annual rates for the previous decennium and
the two quinquennia contained therein, being 21.73, 22.85 and 20.60 respectively. (See also
Table I, Appendix A).
Of the children whose births were registered during the year at least 101 were dead at
the time the registration was effected, equal to 3.0 per cent. of the births registered as compared
with 3.5 and 3.3 per cent. in 1909 and 1908 respectively. There were 48 multiple births,
viz., 47 of twins (15 both males, 14 one of each sex and 18 both females) and one of triplets
(all females). The triplets, five sets of twins and one child of a sixth set were dead at the
registration of their births, making 14 deaths among 97 children born in multiple pregnancies,
or 14.4 per cent.
The births in the Workhouse numbered 82, 16 of the children being born to non-resident
parents. In addition 41 other children were born to non-resident parents in other parts of the
Borough (nursing homes, etc.), making a total of 57 births to be deducted from the number
registered in the Borough. From other parts of the Metropolis 170 births belonging to
Paddington were reported, including 167 births in Queen Charlotte's Hospital,* one in the
British Lying-in Hospital and two "elsewhere." The corrected total of births for the year
thus becomes 3,022, 9 fewer than the corresponding total for 1909, and equal to a rate of
19.83 per 1,000 persons, or 0.18 less than that for the previous year.† The corrected total
(3,022) comprised 1,455 boys and 1,419 girls. The corrected numbers of births belonging to
each Ward are given in Table 2, while the corresponding figures for the years 1905-09 are to
be found in Table II, Appendix A. Table 3 gives a comparison of births and birth-rates
for the whole Metropolis and the Districts circumjacent to the Borough.
Illegitimate Births.—The 2,909 births registered in the Borough included 157 births of
illegitimate children, of whom 63 were born in the Workhouse. Nine of the children
(equal to 5.7 per cent.) were dead when their births were registered. Included among the
157 births were 25 of children not belonging to the Borough, while 1(5 such births were
recorded outside the Borough, making a nett total of 148 (73 boys and 75 girls). Such
births constituted 4.8 per cent. of all births, 0.2 per cent. more than in 1909. (See Table 2.)
The highest proportion of illegitimate to all births was recorded in Lancaster Gate West,
Ward (10.0 per cent.), and the lowest in Harrow Road Ward (3.4 per cent.).
Notification of Births.—The certificates received under the "Notification of Births
Act, 1907" (adopted by the Council in 1908), numbered 2,793, but 86 of them were repeat
notifications, leaving a nett total of 2,707. The certificates received from medical practitioners
numbered 528 (or 18.9 per cent. of the total only), while those from parents (1,111)
and midwives (1,007) constituted 39.7 and 36.0 per cent. respectively.
* The total entered in the Hospital Register as belonging to Paddington was 183, but 17 of the children were
born to non-resident mothers admitted from a Rescue Home in the Borough, all the 17 children being illegitimate.
† The Registrar-General, in his "Annual Summary," gives the corrected total of births belonging to the
Borough as 3,084, and the birth-rate, 20.2.