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
City of Westminster 1902
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Westminster, City of]
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the City, the rates vary widely, from 5.6 in Pall Mall Ward and 5.7 in
Charing Cross Ward to 29 in St. John's Ward.
A more exact method of estimating the birth-rate is by calculatingit
on the number of females living at child-bearing ages, distinguishing
married and unmarried.
Calculated on the total female population, the births, as shown in the
accompanying table, varied from 91 in Charing Cross to 62 per
thousand in St. John's.
Table I.—
| Wards. | Births. | Birth-rate per 1,000 population, | Birth-rate per 1,000 females. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M. | F. | Total. | |||
| Conduit | 25 | 21 | 46 | 7.8 | 13 2 |
| Grosvenor | 70 | 87 | 157 | 10.1 | 17.1 |
| Knightsbridge St. George | 85 | 77 | 162 | 10.1 | 16.3 |
| Victoria | 47 2 | 414 | 886 | 21.6 | 40.3 |
| St. Margaret | 77 | 83 | 160 | 11.5 | 22.0 |
| St. John | 472 | 481 | 953 | 29.5 | 62.0 |
| Hamlet of Knightsbridge | 55 | 42 | 97 | 12.4 | 20.8 |
| St. Anne | 141 | 137 | 278 | 23.8 | 50.0 |
| Regent | 112 | 114 | 226 | 23.0 | 45.2 |
| Pall Mall | 10 | 13 | 23 | 5.6 | 12.4 |
| Great Marlborough | 86 | 94 | 180 | 23.8 | 45.8 |
| Charing Cross | 16 | 10 | 26 | 5.7 | 9.1 |
| Covent Garden | 83 | 80 | 163 | 17.8 | 35.1 |
| Strand | 51 | 53 | 104 | 14.9 | 28.8 |
| The City of Westminster | 1,755 | 1,706 | 3,461 | 18.7 | 35.1 |
| The County of London | 66,975 | 64,303 | 132,810 | 28.4 | 54.6 . |
The total births reckoned on the number of married females
(between the ages of 15 and 45) work out at 235 per thousand for
London and 179 for the City of Westminster, both of which are about
the same as in 1891. In 1891 the rates were 259 and 210, and in 1881,
283 and 238 respectively, so that there is now a very considerable
decrease in the number of children born per family, compared with what
was the case twenty years ago.
Allowance has not been made for illegitimate births in the above
calculations, otherwise the rate would be still further reduced. There
were in 1902, in Westminster, 186 illegitimate births forming 5.7 per
cent. of the total births.