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The death-rate, which in the preceding three years had been 15.2, 13.8 and 14.2 per 1,000
respectively, was 14.0* in 1905. It was 1.6 below the decennial average (15.6) and 1.1 below the rate
in the Metropolis, as a whole, 15.1.
The rate in the sub-districts was : Town 15.2, Brompton 10.9 per 1,000, as compared with
15.8 and 10.1, respectively, in 1904.
The deaths in North Kensington were 1,565, and the death-rate 17.0 per 1,000.
The deaths in South Kensington were 942, and the death-rate 10.9 per 1,000.
The sex-rate was, males 17.7, females 11.6 per 1,000.
Localised Death-rates.—For many years the death-rate of localised portions of the
borough, including the sanitary districts, has been given in these reports. The rate as regarded the
sub-districts and parliamentary divisions, was calculated on the basis of the population of those areas
enumerated at quinquennial census periods, corrected yearly for increase, and was closely approximate
to the true rate. But as regarded the sanitary districts, only an estimated population and an estimated
rate could be given ; the continuity of the statistics, moreover, was always liable to be disturbed
upon any change in the number of the said districts; and four changes had been made within a
few years. Having, in 1901, received from the Registrar-General a statement of the population of
the nine wards comprised in the borough, and regard being had to the improbability of any change
in their number, and to the fact that the population of the wards will be ascertainable at censal
periods, it was thought that the value of these localised statistics would be enhanced by adopting
the ward, in place of the sanitary district, as the unit for calculation of the death-rate, and this was
done.
The ward-rate is set out below; the rate in each of the thirteen four weekly periods in the
table at page 13.
North Kensington:
St. Charles 368 deaths = 16.5
Golborne 474 deaths = 17.8
Norland 475 deaths = 20.0
Pembridge 248 deaths = 12. 7
South Kensington : per 1,000 persons living.
Holland 240 deaths = 11.6
Earl's Court 218 deaths = 11.9
Queen's Gate 119 deaths = 8.2
Redcliffe 238 deaths = 12.6
Brompton 127 deaths = 8.9
The Corrected or True Death-rate.—The death-rate, 14.0 per 1,000, as calculated above,
is a crude or uncorrected one, not taking cognizance of the relative number of the sexes, nor of the
age-composition of the population. Correction for these data involves addition to, or subtraction
from, the "recorded death-rate," as compared with the "standard death-rate." The necessity
for such correction is obvious, having regard to the great excess of females in the population, and to
the lower death rate in the female sex as compared with the rate in the male sex. That excess in
1905 was approximately 38,980. The deaths among the 70,010 males were 1,242 and those among
the 108,990 females 1,265. The crude death-rate in the male sex was 17.7 as compared with the rate
of 11.6 in the female sex. It is, obvious, therefore, that if the numbers of the sexes had been equal,
the death-rate would have been higher than the recorded rate. The Registrar-General, in his annual
summary, gives the " factor for correction for sex and age-distribution " in each of the Metropolitan
Boroughs. Corrected after the manner indicated, the death-rate of Kensington in 1905 becomes,
instead of 14.0, one of 15.1 per 1,000 ; and the rate for London, as a whole, 15.85 instead of
15.1. The "true" death-rate is that which shows the mortality per 1,000 living of each sex at
different age-periods, and this is shown in the table on page 10.
* This is the crude death-rate. The rate corrected for age and sex-distribution was 15. 09 per 1,000. The " true deathrate
'' is set out in the table at page 10.
The " standard " death-rate signifies the death-rate at all ages, calculated on the hypothesis that the rates for each
sex at each of twelve age-periods in each town were the same as in England and Wales, during the 10 years 1891-1900, the rate
at all ages in England and Wales during that period having been 18 21 per 1,000.