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17
SOME NOTES FROM THE 1921 CENSUS.
The Census was to have been taken on the 24th April, 1921, but
owing to the industrial situation at that time this could not be accomplished,
and so it was taken on 19th June at a time when, on account
of the abnormally fine weather, some holiday movement was in progress.
Thus certain holiday resorts yielded a return obviously swollen by
visitors, and correspondingly, a diminished census figure, below expectations,
fell to the lot of the many centres from which holiday movers
had departed. The population inflation of the known holiday resorts
equalled the deflation of the many towns and cities from which egress
had taken place. No sure and certain allocation of the inflated figures
to the deflated returns of the cities could be made, still, the Registrar.
General made certain corrections whereby a nearer approximate
estimate to the true census could be ascertained. The Administrative
County of London consists of the 28 Administrative Boroughs; the
Census for the County and the City was 4,484,523. In 1801 the
population of the same area was 959,310. In 1901 the highest figure
was recorded, 4,536,267. The decrease in the last 10 years has been at
the rate of 10 per 1,000, but if the Census had been taken on the
24th April, a small increase might have been recorded instead. The
population for Greater London in 1921 was 7,480,201, the highest yet
recorded. Greater London includes the City of London and Metropolitan
Police Districts and includes towns like Waltham Holy Cross,
Erith, Epsom, Uxbridge, in the north, east, south and west respectively.
The Census has shown that in the last decennium the same change
has taken place, viz., the City and inner boroughs have yielded up
substantial portions of their population as a result of the continuing
substitution of business premises, warehouses, etc., in place of dwellings;
the Outer Ring areas showed complementary increases. Thirteen
boroughs presented this decrease, the City 30 per cent., whilst Finsbury,
Holborn, St. Marylebone, Westminster and Stepney gave decreases of
14 to 11 percent. Increases were shown in Woolwich 16 percent.,
Lewisham 8 per cent., Hammersmith 7 per cent., Wandsworth and
Greenwich 5 per cent. The emigration or outward movement of
people from London County is only three.fifths of the 1901.11 decade,
provided that in estimating the figures, we omit the war deaths which
occurred abroad, and which amounted roughly to about 66,000. Only
Lewisham and Woolwich did not show an outward migration. The
City and Holborn were the only two areas in which the deaths exceeded
the births.