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THE ROYAL BOROUGH OF KENSINGTON
Public Health Department,
Hornton Street,
KENSINGTON, W. 8.
31st July, 1950.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Royal Borough of Kensington.
My Lord, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have much pleasure in presenting the Annual Report
on the state of the public health in Kensington in 1949.
The Minister of Health has requested that the report
should be submitted in the same abbreviated form as has
been the case each year since the outbreak of the last war.
The report deals with the year before my appointment
as Medical Officer of Health for Kensington. Dr. James
Fenton, C.B.E., was the Medical Officer of Health until the
end of September, 1949, when he retired after nearly 30 years
service with the Council. Prom the 1st October, Dr. C. D. L.
Lycett, the Deputy Medical Officer of Health, was in charge
of the Public Health Department until I commenced duty on
the 27th February, 1950.
It will be appreciated that I cannot write from my
own direct knowledge of events which occurred in the year
1949, and I have decided to retain the form of abridged
report which Dr. Fenton has adopted since 1939 to comply
with the directions of the Minister of Health.
The Council, at their meeting following Dr. Fenton's
retirement, placed on record their sincere appreciation of
his long and distinguished service and extended to him
their best wishes for good health and happiness in the
future. I shall endeavour to continue and further the
Public Health Services of the Royal Borough in accordance
with the high traditions which my predecessor so expertly
and painstakingly created during the past 29 years.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
POPULATION. There was a further increase in the
estimated population of Kensington for 1949 (174,220)
compared with that for the previous year (168,800). The
latest figure is more than the prewar (1938) estimated
population of 174,100. It appears from the Registrar
General's most recent estimate of the "home" population
of 178,870 that the influx of people since the end of the
war is continuing. This increase in population, with its
consequent increasing demand for housing accommodation,
makes the task of maintaining reasonable standards of
fitness in existing housing accommodation more important.