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1
REPORT.
The Borough of Paddington comprises an area of 1,356 statute acres, including 20 of
inland water-ways (the Grand Junction and Regent's Canals), parts of Hyde Park and
Kensington Gardens (68 acres), the Recreation Ground (27 acres), the disused Church Yard
of St. Mary's Paddington Green (5 acres), and Paddington Green (1½ acres). The Borough is
co-terminous with the Registration District "No. 1, Paddington," comprising three SubDistricts,
viz., "North," "Central," and "South." For municipal purposes the Borough is
divided into eight Wards. The grouping of the Wards in the Registration Sub-Districts is set
out below:
Registration Sub-Districts.
Wards.
North Paddington
Central Paddington
South Paddington
Queen's Park.
Harrow Road.
Maida Vale.
Westbourne.
Church.
Lancaster Gate, West.
Lancaster Gate, East.
Hyde Park.
The Borough is situated on the southern side of the range of low hills which culminate in the
Hampstead Heights, the slope being (generally) towards the south and west. The subsoil is
principally clay, but in places, more particularly in the neighbourhood of the Bayswater Road,
pockets of gravel exist, or did exist. In the central parts of the Borough many depressions were
filled up years ago with slop and refuse of all descriptions. In the western parts of the
Borough the subsoil water lies at a very few feet below the surface of the ground. There are at
least two, and possibly more, subterranean watercourses, one of which, running parallel with the
Edgware Road, close to the western side thereof, has been found on several occasions,
in the course of works of excavation to trace the causes of dampness in cellars. The second, the
better known, now forms the Ranelagh Sewer, one of the main sewers of the Metropolis.
POPULATION.
The estimated population of the Borough at the middle of the year 1914 was 142,087
persons, comprising 60,021 males and 82,066 females, these figures being derived from calculations
based on the results of the censuses of 1901 and 1911, according to the Waters' formula
recommended in the Annual Reports of the Registrar-General. The numbers of persons for the
various Wards will be found in Table II., Appendix.
The natural increment in the population, i.e., the excess of births over deaths, was 1,069 in
1911-12, 1,126 in 1912-13, and 1,082 in 1913-14. If no changes had occurred through migration,
the total addition to the population since the last census would have amounted to 3,467 persons,
whereas the estimate above given shows a loss of 464.
As intimated in the last report, it is proposed to calculate each year until the next census
an estimated population founded on the numbers of occupied assessments in each Ward, and to
B