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births.
5
BIRTHS: Fertility: Natality.
During the past year* 2,81 5 births were registered within the Borough, giving a crude birthrate
of 19.75 per 1,000 persons. The births of males numbered 1,409, and those of females 1,400,
showing an unusual proportion of the latter sex. Last year's rate was 2 26 less than the average
(22 01) for the ten years 1901-10, and the lowest on record. (See Table I., Appendix A.) During
the first half of the decennium the average rate was 22.88, 3.13 in excess of the rate of last year,
and during the second half 20.14, or 139 in excess. It should be noted that the rates for the
ten years 1901-10 have been re-calculated on the basis of the populations as determined in 1901
and 1911.
Of the births registered, 101 occurred in the Lying-in Wards of the Workhouse, equal to 3.8
per cent, of the total births and 1 per cent, more than the proportion noted in 1910 (2.8 per cent.).
Thirty (30) multiple births (all of twins) were registered last year, as compared with 48 (47 of
twins and 1 of triplets) in the preceding year. Last year's multiple births comprised 7 in which
both children were males, 12 in which both were females, and 11 with mixed sexes.
From the total of 2,815 births, those of 57 children born to women not residing in the
Borough have to be excluded, 27 of such children having been born in the Workhouse and the
remainder in nursing homes or private houses. Information was received by the Department
from other parts of the Metropolis relating to 230 children born to women giving addresses in
Paddington, but the births of 11 children to whom such information related were ultimately
rejected as not belonging to the Borough. The 230 births took place in:—Oueen Charlotte's
Lying-in Hospital (222 births, 11 of which, all of illegitimate children, were rejected), British
Lying-in Hospital (6 births), and other places (12 births).
According to the Departmental records, the corrected total number of births during the
year was 2,977 (1,492 of males and 1,485 females), equivalent to a rate of 20'88 per 1,000
persons, or 119 less than the corrected mean rate (22*07) for the five years 1906-10, during which
years the rates were—
1906,2294; 1907,22-40; 1908,2263; 1909,2122; 1910,2118.
The number on which those rates are based will be found in Table II., Appendix A.
For the purpose of comparison with the circumjacent districts, the numbers of births
published in the Registrar-General's Quarterly Reports have been used, except that in the case
of St. Marylebone a figure which allows for the non-resident births in Queen Charlotte's
Hospital has been obtained from the Medical Officer of Health of that Borough. The number
of births recorded during the last two years and the corresponding rates (all calculated from
populations adjusted to the results of the last census) will be found in Table 3. In both
years the rates for Kensington, Westminster, and Hampstead were less than the rates for the
Borough. With the exception of St. Marylebone (rate, 1911, 20.15; mean, 20.97) all the rates
recorded last year were 2 or more per 1,000 less than the corresponding mean rates.
As it has not been possible to re-calculate the estimates of the populations of the Wards of
the Borough, a table showing the actual numbers of births (of each sex) credited to the Wards
(Table 4) during the past two years had been substituted for the usual table of rates and
means. That table shows that the numbers varied in a most irregular fashion. (See also
Table II, Appendix A).
Illegitimate Births.—The 2,815 births registered in the Borough included 171 (6 per cent.)
of illegitimate births, the proportions registered in the three Registration Sub-Districts being—
North, 3.1, Central, 10.3 (the Workhouse is in this Sub-District), and South, 2.5 per cent. The
illegitimate children born in the Workhouse numbered 67 (66.3 per cent, of all births in that
Institution). Thirty-eight (38) of the 171 children were born to non-resident women, 20 out
* For the purpose of this report, the numbers of births (and deaths) registered in the 52 weeks ended
December 30th have been taken as the figures for the calendar year.