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23
Further Analysis of Population and Mortality of Belgrave SubDistrict;
Displacement of Population, &c.
The lesson which we venture to enforce on the Vestry, as we
ourselves learn it from an investigation of the facts, is, that it is
of little use to bring forward broad general figures, without
entering into details ; that to assert that a place is unhealthy intrinsically
because a great many persons die there, is absurd ;
that sanitary matters, drains, cesspools, &c , are very important
as causes of death, and spare neither rich nor poor; still that
they form only a small share of the general conditions, whether of
plenty or poverty, ignorance or knowledge, virtue or vice, love of
life, or carelessness of life, in which a population lives. In fact,
the mortality is a test of the whole condition of the people, and
not merely of the existence of nuisances as they are called.
In former Reports, we have given the mortality in a group of
squares in the Belgrave Sub-District, and compared it with that of
a group of small streets, with the view of showing the greater
general mortality in the poor streets than in the rich, and the
greater proportion of children's deaths. But we were not in possession
of figures to show the mortality per cent. Desirous of getting
at some numbers with respect to the Belgrave Sub-District, and
especially as regards the quantity of people displaced by the
pulling down of houses, we made application to the RegistrarGeneral,
who kindly ordered the original Census Documents of
1861 to be brought from the House of Lords to Somerset House,
and to be placed at our disposal. From these we made as many
extracts as our time permitted, and propose to set them forth here
in order to shew the difference between a wealthy and a poor
neighbourhood, within the same Sub-District.
Suppose we take Belgrave-square as the type of the richer.
The first fact is, that at the Census in April, 1861, out of 49 houses,
it is evident, from the returns, that only 22 families were in
town; the remainder were at country seats, watering places, &c.
And this gives but an imperfect idea of the extent of change
enjoyed by the richer in the autumn.
Secondly,—Space.—The adjoining diagram represents the space
occupied by the houses in Belgrave-square. At the time of the