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
Whitechapel 1871
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Whitechapel]
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residents be deducted from the registered deaths, the excess of births over
deaths will be about 3,067. To this number there must be added the births
that are not registered, which, in this District, from causes alluded to iu
some of my former Reports, are probably very numerous. The registration
of births in England is not, as in Scotland, compulsory, and a birth cannot
be registered after the child has become six months old.
In order to show in which of the Sub-districts the population has increased and decreased, I have been able, from the published returns of the Registrar-General, to construct the subjoined Table:—
| Districts. | Population enumerated. | Increase or Decrease in the No. of persons between 1861 & 1871. | No. of Houses Inhabited during | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1861 | 1871 | Increase. | Decrease. | 1861 | 1871 | |
| Artillery | 6557 | 6651 | 94 | - | 731 | 690 |
| Spitalfields | 15700 | 15844 | 144 | - | 1533 | 1512 |
| Mile End New Town | 15392 | 15550 | 158 | - | 1634 | 1745 |
| Whitechapel North | 12122 | 11434 | - | 688 | 1503 | 1429 |
| Whitechapel Church | 8062 | 7323 | - | 739 | 999 | 903 |
| Goodman's Fields | 11166 | 10381 | - | 785 | 1260 | 1140 |
| Aldgate | 9971 | 9149 | - | 822 | 999 | 894 |
| Totals | 78970 | 76332 | 396 | 3034 | 8664 | 8313 |
From this table it appears that an increase of the population has taken
place in the Artillery, Spitalfields, and Mile End New Town Sub-districts,
amounting in the aggregate to 396; while the Whitechapel North, Whitechapel
Church, Goodman's Fields, and Aldgate Sub-districts have fallen
off to the extent of 3,034.
The number of houses has decreasd to the extent of 351. The average
number of persons to each house, including the residents in public buildings,
on board ship in the docks and on the river is 9.1, which is exactly the same
as it was at the previous census. Iu 1851 the inhabited houses were 8,812 ;
in 1861 they were 8,664, and in 1871 they were 8,313, showing a diminution
in 20 years of 499 houses.
"The enumerated population of London on the night of April 2nd, 1871,
was 3,251,804. But this," says the Registrar-General "is now only a
part of London. Within the radial lines of the Metropolitan Police District,
drawn from 12 to 15 miles round Charing Cross, the population is 3,883,092."
Within the limits of the School Board District, the population is 3,2C5,005.
The Registrar-General has supplied the London School Board with details
relating to nearly 700,000 children between the ages of 3 and 13, living
within the limits of their jurisdiction.
It appears from a Report of Mr. Hyams, the Registrar of the Subdistrict
of Spitalfields, to the Registrar-General, a copy of which has been