View report page

It will thus be seen that in spite of all the gloomy views that
prevailed in 1915 onwards, when to read many papers it would appear
that the British race was doomed to an early extinction on account
of the falling off of births, it is found that the number of births is
greater than 1915, and the opinion expressed in the annual report
for that year, that I did not share in those views, but rather held
the opinion that after the war things would come back to the
ordinary standard, was nearer the truth than many thought.
It will be seen that there is a very considerable increase on last
year's numbers, which were themselves so much ahead of those for
1918. In 1914 there were registered only 6,580 births, so that no
one can complain of Camberwell not having borne a fair share
in preventing the extinction of the population of England.
3,697 deaths were registered in the Parish, but only those of
actual inhabitants of the Borough are taken into account, and to
their number must be added the deaths of Camberwellians which
took place outside the Borough boundaries.
When this has been done, there results a total of 3,318, which
has to be used in the calculation of the death rate.
Coming to the individual registration districts, we obtain the
following numbers:—
Dulwich.
East Dulwich.
N.W. Camberwell.
Peckham.
N. Camberwell.
Dist. Unknown.
166
520
905
947
764
16
The death rate assigned to Camberwell by the Medical Officer
of the London County Council, in his comparative list of Metropolitan
Boroughs, is 11.7. This list is valuable for the purposes of
comparison, for errors affect other districts in much the same
degree as they do ours, and it is therefore permissible to use this
list as a means of viewing our position among our neighbours.
Camberwell's place is eighth on the list, compared with seventh in
1919. But then the death rate in Camberwell was 12.6, so that it
is still possible to show improvement. The Boroughs having a,
lower death rate are Paddington, Fulham, Hampstead, Wandsworth,
Lewisham, and Woolwich. Five of these were in the same relation
to us in 1919, the new-comers being the first two in the above
series. The death rate estimated for the County of London was
12.6. The Borough rate for 1919 was 12.6, and that for 1918, 18.3.
The calculation of the death rate suffers from the drawback of
hazard of population, but as the figures for the whole of London are
based on those of the Registrar-General, for purposes of comparison,
I have used them, although my own estimate for the population of
Camberwell is 263,000 odd; this was prepared for a return on the
housing needs of the Borough at the end of 1919, a figure which
was subsequently altered by the Council to 278,000.
Coming to the particular cause of death, I have first of all to
report that no deaths took place from either small-pox or poliomyelitis.
The deaths from influenza shrank from 218 to 58. It will be
remembered that in the last report, were included fatalities occurring