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APPENDIX I.
(Vide Page 2.)
At the last meeting of the late Vestry of Kensington, held on November 7th, 1900, two days
before the first regular meeting of the Borough Council, I submitted the following
VALEDICTORY REPORT,
which, I hope, will be deemed of sufficient interest to justify its reproduction in this my first
annual report to the Council. In order to a complete statement, covering the whole period
of the late Vestry's administration, the statistical part of the report in the appended tables has been
made to include the figures for the year 1900.
A Retrospect, 1855-1900.—This being the last report I shall have the honour to submit to
your Vestry, it may not be without interest for me to make a few observations, by way of
Retrospect, on the" Vital and Mortal Statistics, the Public Health and Sanitary Work of
the forty-five years since the present Sanitary Authorities of London were brought into being by
the Metropolis Local Management Act, 1855.
The available information for the fifteen years, 1856-1870, is scanty. Since 1871 it has been
my privilege, under the Vestry, to direct the sanitary administration of the parish.
Area: Sub-Districts, etc.—The District, "Kensington," has an area of 2,190 acres, and for
registration purposes comprises two sub-districts: Kensington Town (area, 1,497 acres) and
Brompton (area, 693 acres). In this brief review it will not be possible to give detailed statistics
of the sub-districts ; for the most part the parish must be dealt with as a whole. And first of all,
I would draw attention to the Tables (at pages 84 and 85), hereinafter referred to as Table A and
Table B, in which the Vital and Mortal Statistics of the period, 1856-1900, have been
summarised.
Population.—The population in the census year 1851, was 44,053 : in the Town sub-district,
29,183 (males, 11,908, females, 17,275); in Brompton, 14,870 (males, 6,021, females, 8,849). The
excess of females over males, for which the parish has always been remarkable, was nearly as great
in 1851 as in 1900, relatively to population. In 1851 the excess was 8,095: in 1896 (quinquennial
census year) it had increased to 36,461. It is difficult to form reliable estimates of population at
intercensal periods. Since 1871, the attempt has been facilitated by information obtained from the
rating department of the number of inhabited houses.* The result is set out in Table A, and may
be deemed fairly accurate, corrected as it has been, decennially, on the basis of the census returns.
Between 1851 and 1861 the population increased at the rate of 2,600 per annum; it is assumed to
have numbered 57,000 in 1856 ; the estimate for the present year (1900) is 173,000 : (Town subdistrict,
124,300, Brompton 48,700), an increase of 116,000 in the forty-five years. During these
years, the excess of births over deaths was 51,421; the balance of increase (64,579) represents
excess of immigration over emigration.
Density of Population.—In 1856, twenty persons per acre; in the present year, 79. At the
former date, large areas in both sub-districts were fields or market gardens; now, Brompton is
practically covered with buildings, but in the Town sub-district some open spaces remain, notably
Holland-park and fields in North-West Kensington.
The subjoined figures illustrate the development of the borough between 1856 and 1900:—
1856. 1900. Increase.
Number of Inhabited Houses 7,600 22,800 15,200
Population 57.000 173,000 116,000
Rateable Value £308,000 £2,146,208 £1,838,208
A seven-fold increase, nearly, during the period of the Vestry s administration.
•Building operations on a large but variable scale were going on during the years 1871-81, which witnessed an
increase of nearly 43,000 to the population. The increases to the number of inhabited houses on the rate books varied
much from year to year, having been, approximately, 456, 471, 714, 747, 777, 500,396,389, 491. and 490, in the successive
years: total in the ten years, 5,431. Previous to 1871, no information of yearly increases is forihcoming ; but it would
appear that between 1851 and 1871, i.e., in 20 years, there was an increase of 9,599 houses, including 6,261 in the decade
1861-71, during which the population underwent an increase of 50,000. The average number of persons to a house appears
to have ranged between seven and eight in each census year, 1851 to 1891, inclusive.