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Vestry of Kensington. At the present writing nothing has been done to give effect to this power,
but the Council are making enquiries into the questions of housing, overcrowding, &c., properly
precedent to action,
In the last report I had the honour to submit to the late Vestry (No. 11, November 7th,
page 117), and by way of retrospect, I gave some account of the Vital and Mortal Statistics
of the Parish, and the Poblic Health and Sanitary Work carried out, during the forty-five years
of that body's existence, i.e., since the defunct Sanitary Authorities were brought into being by the
Metropolis Local Management Act, 1855. In order to avoid repetition, as much as practicable,
I append to this report that Valedictory Address, which I doubt not will be found to possess for
the Council some features of interest (vide Appendix I., page 75). With these few introductory
remarks, I proceed to deal with the usual subjects of the annual report.
REGISTRATION DISTRICT AND SUB-DISTRICTS.
The Registration District of Kensington (No. 1 B in the Registrar-General's list) comprised,
in 1900, prior to the alterations of boundaries, an area of 2,190 acres, divided into two subdistricts,
respectively designated Kensington Town (hereinafter for brevity referred to as Town)
and Brompton. The Town sub-district has an area of 1,497 acres, that of Brompton being 693
acres. The Town sub-district comprises all that portion of the borough north of Kensington Highstreet
and Kensington-road, together with a portion of the borough south of those roads, and
north of a line extending, from west to east, along Pembroke-road, Stratford-road, and south of the
workhouse, then through Cornwall-gardens to Queen's-gate-place, and thence northwards so as to
include Queen's-gate, Jay's-mews and Kensington-gore. The Brompton sub-district comprises the
remainder of the borough south of the above described line.
[Parliamentary Divisions.—North Kensington and South Kensington are the two
divisions of the Parliamentary Borough, separated by High-street, Notting-hill, and Holland-parkavenue:
North Kensington comprises the North, the North-east and the North-west sanitary districts,
together with a portion of the Central district; South Kensington comprises the remainder of the
central district, and the South-east and the South-west sanitary districts.]
POPULATION, RATEABLE VALUE, etc., OF THE BOROUGH IN 1891,
AND AFTER.
The subjoined table shows the relative number of persons of each sex, as ascertained at the
census of 1891, and grouped according to age ; (a) in the entire borough, (b) in the Kensington
Town sub-district, and (c) in the Brompton sub-district. The 166,308 persons comprised in the
then population were in occupation of about 22,000 houses, or an average of 7.56 to each house.
The census report states that 70,718 persons, or 42.5 per cent. of the population, were living in
20,052 tenements of less than five rooms. The entire population of the borough at that date was in
occupation of 35,953 tenements and certain public institutions. Of these "tenements" 6,398
consisted of a single room each; these rooms being inhabited by 13,655 persons. The two-roomed
tenements were 6,965; their inhabitants numbered 26,020. The three-roomed tenements were
4,115; their inhabitants 18,119. The four-roomed tenements were 2,574; their inhabitants 12,924.
Stated in another way, it would appear that 8.2 per cent. of the people lived in one-roomed tenements;
15.6 per cent. in two-room tenements; 10.9 per cent. in three-room tenements, and 7.8 per
cent. in four-room tenements. In North Kensington there were approximately 8.7 persons to a
house; in South Kensington about 6.7; High-street, Notting-hill, and Holland-park-avenue
being the dividing line. But many houses, in North Kensington more particularly, contained, and
contain now, upwards of twenty persons to a house, and some thirty persons and upwards.