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Town Hall,
Kensington, W.8.
June 1st, 1927.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Royal Borough of Kensington.
My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen,—
I have the honour to submit, for your information, my Annual Report for 1926 upon the state
of the Public Health in Kensington.
The Sanitary Officers' Order, 1926, prescribes that a Medical Officer of Health shall, as soon as
practicable after the end of the year, make an annual report on the sanitary circumstances,
sanitary administration and the vital statistics of the district, containing in addition to any
other matters upon which he may consider it desirable to report, such information as may
from time to time be required by the Minister of Health.
The Minister, in the exercise of his powers under this Order, has directed that the Medical
Officer of Health's Annual Report for 1926 shall be an Ordinary Report, that is, a Report of a
more simple character than the full Survey Report which it was my duty to prepare last year.
In accordance with the Minister's instructions, the present Report deals with the statistics of
the year and reviews fully only those noteworthy conditions which were not dealt with adequately
in the preceding Survey Report and important circumstances which have arisen subsequently to
the preparation of that Survey Report.
The year under review was satisfactory from the public health standpoint, the most
noteworthy fact being the decline in the infantile death rate to 60 from 78 for 1925. The
rate for 1926 is the lowest in the history of Kensington. It is lower than the rate for England
and Wales and for that of London as a whole, and its publication will give considerable
encouragement to those ladies and gentlemen who give voluntarily so much valuable time and
thought to Maternity and Child Welfare work in Kensington.
For the second time on record the Kensington death rate for all ages was under 13 per
1,000, the previous occasion of a similarly low rate being in 1923.
The fall in the death rate from phthisis received each year since 1918 continued in 1926.
At the present time the death rate from all forms of tuberculosis is nearly half the rate prevailing
ten years ago.
It is appropriate that in presenting this report I should express my appreciation of the full
measure of support which has been accorded to me by the Mayor, the Chairmen and ViceChairmen
of the various Committees, all members of the Council, and the Chief Officers of
other Departments, and of thanking the staff of the Public Health Department for their efficient
service and loyal co-operation throughout the year.
VITAL STATISTICS.
The Royal Borough of Kensington as constituted under the London Government Act, 1899,
covers an area of 2,291 acres, and is co-extensive with the Civil Parish and Registration District
of the same name. The line of demarcation formed by Holland Park Avenue, High Street,
Notting Hill Gate, and the Bayswater Road divides the Borough into approximately equal halves
described in previous years and in this Report as North and South Kensington respectively.
Each of these areas is co-terminous with the Parliamentary division of the same name. The
Borough is further sub-divided into nine wards. North Kensington includes the wards of St.
Charles, Golborne, Norland and Pembridge, whilst South Kensington is made up of the five other
wards, namely, Holland, Earl's Court, Queen's Gate, Redcliffe and Brompton.