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7
Infantile Mortality, or the proportion of deaths under one year of age to registered births,
is an important factor in vital statistics. The deaths under one year, which in the three preceding
years had been 609, 655, and 642, respectively, were 641 in 1900, being equivalent to 179 per 1,000
births, the same as in 1899. The rate in the Metropolis, always below that of Kensington, was 160
in each 1,000 births, and corresponded to the average proportion in the ten preceding years. In
England and Wales, the rate was 154, which is 1 per 1,000 above the mean proportion in the ten
years 1890-99. In the Town sub-district, which includes the infirmary, the deaths under one (581)
were equivalent to 192 per 1,000 births, those in Brompton (60) to 106 per ,1000.

It thus appears that infantile mortality in the North and North-east districts was in excess of
the London rate (160 per 1,000), but the excessive proportion in the borough as a whole was
mainly due to the large number of deaths in the North-west district.
Table A in Appendix I. (page 84) gives the number of deaths under one year and the rate
per 1,000 of births registered (the "infantile mortality") for each of the thirty years 1871-1900,
during my tenure of office.
The deaths of children over one year and under five years of age were 236; the total
deaths under five years, therefore, were 877, as compared with 912, 1,039, and 932 in the three
preceding years, being equal to 244 per 1,000 births; the relative proportion in London as a
whole being 237. The deaths of illegitimate children under five years of age, 126, 87, and
103 In the three preceding years respectively, were 86 in 1900, of which 71 were registered in
the Town sub-district, and 15 in Brompton. These deaths were equal to 46.9 per cent. on the
183 births registered as illegitimate. Of the 86 children, five only survived the first year of life.
Senile Mortality.—At sixty years of age and upwards there were 868 deaths, as
compared with 735, 862, and 943 in the three preceding years respectively. The deaths were
equivalent to 322 per 1,000 deaths at all ages. The relative proportion in all London was 263
per 1,000.
District Rates of Mortality.—The table at page 10 shows (inter alia) the death-rate
in the sub-districts, the parliamentary divisions, and the sanitary districts, for the year,
and also for each of the thirteen four-weekly periods covered by the monthly reports.
As usual, the rate was far higher in the Town sub-district (17.6 per 1,000) than in the
Brompton sub-district (10.3), and the same observation applies to the parliamentary division
of North Kensington (19.4), compared with the southern division of the borough (11.6). In
three of the sanitary districts the death-rate exceeded that of the borough as a whole (15*0 per
1,000), viz., the Central (16'8), the North (17'4), and the North-west (29'6). The last-named
district, containing a population of 17,000, includes the so-called "Notting-dale" special area.
The mortal statistics of the district, as a whole, are far from satisfactory; the death-rate in 1900
was more than double the rate in the remainder of the borough (14.1 per 1,000), the zymotic
death-rate (3.8 per 1,000) was more than twice as high as that of the remainder of the borough
(1.4 per 1,000); the waste of infant life was also excessive, the deaths under one year (176) being
equivalent to 290 per 1,000 births registered, the infantile deaths in the remainder of the borough
(population, 156,000) being in the proportion of 156 per 1,000 births, or 4 per 1,000 below the
corresponding rate in London as a whole. These figures show to what a large extent the
statistics of this district, which contains less than a tenth of the population, spoil those of
the borough generally. In the Notting-dale special area (estimated population, 4,000) the
death-rate was 40.7 per 1,000, as compared with 15.6 in the borough, as a whole, and 26.2 in the
North-west district less the special area; the zymotic death-rate was 4.5 per 1,000 persons living,
not far short of thrice that of the borough as a whole. The deaths at all ages were 50 more than
the births; the deaths of children under one year of age being in the proportion of 478 per 1,000
on the births registered. The main facts with respect to vital and mortal statistics in the distressful
area, in 1900, are summarised on the following page.