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To estimate the effect of social status on the birth-rate in North and South Kensington, the
female population of child-bearing age has been obtained for the two districts from the Registrar
General.
District.
Females,
aged 15-45.
Single.
Married.
Widowed.
North Kensington
24,259
13,021
10,549
689
South Kensington
36,662
28,976
6,755
931
The Borough
60,921
41,997
17,304
1,620
The legitimate birth rate, expressed as the number of legitimate births per 1,000 married
females, aged 15—45 years, is shown in the following Table:—
1914.
North
Kensington.
South
Kensington.
The
Borough.
Legitimate births per 1,000 married females aged 15-45
211
113
173
Illegitimate births per 1,000 unmarried and widowed
females, 15-45
7
2
3
Legitimate and illegitimate births per 1,000 of total
population
27
10
18
Calculated on the total population the birth-rate in the South is only two-fifths of the rate
in the North. If the births are shown in proportion to the married women of conceptive age
the position in the South is improved, and the birth-rate is increased to three-fifths of the rate
for the northern half of the Borough. But even so there is still a wide discrepancy resulting
from the fact that those who can best afford to bring up their children have the smallest families.
Illegitimate Births.—The illegitimate births numbered 151, and were equivalent to a rate
of 9 per 10,000 persons living as compared with a rate of 9 for London in the year 1912. 98
illegitimate births occurred in North Kensington and 53 in South Kensington.
Calculated on the unmarried and widowed female population the rate for North Kensington,
as the figures in the above Table show, was 3½ times higher than in South Kensington. Had
no allowance been made for the excess of unmarried females in South Kensington, the rates
calcuFated on the total populations for North and South would have been as 12 to 7.
Notification of Births.—The Notification of Births Act, 1907, requires every birth to be
notified within 36 hours to the Medical Officer of Health, either by the father of the child or by
some person in attendance upon the mother in her confinement, and applies to still-born children as
well as to children who are born alive. Out of the 3,003 live births registered as having occurred
in Kensington, 2,712 or 90 per cent, were notified to the Medical Officer of Health. The unnotified
births accordingly amounted to 291, or 10 per cent, of the number registered during the year.
The subjoined figures show that 2,952 births in all were notified.
Source of Notification.
Number of Births Notified.
Still Births.
Live B.rths.
Total Births.
Midwives 47 1,559 1,606
Parents 10 502 512
Medical Practitioners 81 564 595
Other Persons 2 87 89
Births in the Borough 90 2,712 2,802
Institutions outside the Borough 6 144 150
Total 96 2,856 2,952
Of the notifications received 150 were forwarded by the London County Council, and related
to infants born of Kensington mothers in Queen Charlotte's Hospital or other Institutions beyond
the Borough.