London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Kensington 1896
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington Parish]
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6
and the enumeration of 1896 are in this respect widely
divergent; the divergence being, to me, at least, inexplicable,
excepting upon the assumption that some 5,000 persons must
have been absent from their homes in April, 1891 (during the
Easter holidays), who were at home on the Sunday before
Easter, in 1896.
The subjoined table shows the increase of population, and how brought about, in three decennial periods ended with 1891.
| Increase | Decrease by Removals. | Total Increase. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| by Births in excess of Deaths. | by Immigration. | |||||
| Population | 1861 | 70,108 | — | ' — | — | — |
| ,, | 1871 | 120,299 | 9,538 | 40,653 | — | 50,191 |
| ,, | 1881 | 163,151 | 16,934 | 25,918 | — | 42,852 |
| ,, | 1891 | 166,308 | 13,557 | — | 10,400 | 3,157 |
It follows from what has been said that, instead of an
annual increase in population of 300 since 1891, as estimated
in previous reports, there was an actual annual increase to the
number of 830. There would have been a larger error in the
statistics of the parish during the years 1891-96 than exists, as
the result of under-estimate ot population, had I not ventured
to assume that, owing to the cause already explained, the census
of 1891 showed a total considerably below the normal population.
At the time when this census was taken there were about 1,000
non-parishioners in public institutions, and I included all these
in the estimate of the number of parishioners living at the
middle of 1891; it now appears that this course was amply
justified.