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It appears then that Kentish Town stands first, Camden Town second,
Regent's Park third, Tottenham Court and Somer's Town are nearly equal, and
stand next, whilst Gray's Inn this year comes last, in the order of salubrity.
The differences in the mortality of the different sub-districts are not so great this
year as they were last, although they are still very large.
To show more clearly the effect of external conditions on the rate of mortality,
I have been at considerable pains to ascertain the numbers of deaths which
have been registered during 1856, 1857, and 1858, in a few streets selected from
each sub-district, as specimens of a class, and where I have been able to do so,
have given an estimate of the populations of those streets, so as to be able to
calculate the death-rate. In the Gray's Inn sub-district I have given the population
of the streets as ascertained at the census of 1851, which I am enabled to
do through the kindness of Mr. Worrell, District Registrar. The others are
chiefly obtained from house to house visitation of the Inspectors. It will be seen
by referring to the appended Table (Table A) that the death-rates in these streets
have varied from 4 to 75 per thousand. This extreme difference cannot, in all
cases, be taken as a fair representation of the ordinary relative mortality of the
various places, because where the numbers we deal with are small, very slight
accidental causes, unduly raise or depress the ratios; but in the more populous
streets the results are sufficiently trustworthy; and here we have diversities
which call for very serious attention. For instance, in Henry Street, Hampstead
Road, we have 4 deaths in every 5 houses in one year, and a death-rate of 33 per
thousand in 1858, and an average annual death-rate of 37 in 3 years. The
insalubrity of this street is chiefly due to overcrowding and dirty habits. In
Fitzroy Place and Upper Fitzroy Place, close by, there are death-rates of 27 and
40 per thousand respectively, and an average annual death-rate of 34. These
places are crowded. In Holbrook Court and Place, which are very filthy, and
not well drained, requiring constant inspection, the mortality has been very
*In calculating this column, the deaths which occurred in the Strand Union are omitted;
and the deaths in the University College Hospital, the Royal Free Hospital, and St. Pancras
Workhouse, are distributed amongst the sub-districts in the proportion of their population. The
deaths which occurred in hospitals out of the parish, of people belonging to Saint Pancras, aro
not included, as they are nearly counterbalanced by the deaths in St. Pancrus Hospitals of persons
belonging to other districts.
† These numbers are a little below the actual birth-rate, because 174 have been deducted to
allow for births in the Workhouse, as it is not known from what sub-districts women have come
who have been delivered in the Workhouse. If the births which occurred in the Workhouse
could be distributed in the due proportion to the several sub-districts, it is probable that the birthrate
would be raised in Tottenham Court sub-district to about 312 per ten thousand, so as to be
about on a par with that in Regent's Park, and in Gray's Inn Road it would be raised to about
318; whilst in Camden Town it would be about 327, and in Somers and Kentish Towns about 344.