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2
The division of the parish which I propose at present to adopt, is the one made
use of by the Registrar General into six districts,—namely, Regent's Park,
Tottenham Court Road, Gray's Inn Road, Somers Town, Camden Town, and
Kentish Town. They are bounded as follows:—four of them are to the North of
the New Road.—viz., Regent's Park, Somers, Camden, and Kentish Towns.
Regent's Park District is separated from the others by the Hampstead Road, High
Street, and Pancras Yale. Somers Town District extends from the New Road on
the South to Fig Laue on the North; with Brewer Street and Skinner Street on
the East. Camden Town District is bounded on the North by the Regent's Canal,
on the West by Brewer and Skinner Streets, and on the South by the New Road,
whilst Kentish Town District includes all the parish North of Regent's Canal and
Pancras Vale.* Two are to the South of the New Road,—viz., Tottenham Court
and Gray's Inn Road. They are separated from each other by Burton Crescent.
In the accompanying table (see Schedule A), I have given the following
particulars with reference to each of these sub-divisions:—The area in acres, the
number of inhabited houses, and of the population in 1851, the estimated population
in 1856, the ratio of inhabited houses to the population in 1851, also the number of
persons to an acre, and the elevation in feet above high water mark; and, in regard
to these particulars, I have compared them and the whole parish with the whole of
London.
There is no one circumstance which has so much influence on the salubrity of a
district as the elevation. So much is this the case, in reference to epidemic
diseases, that the amount of mortality from them in the London Districts has been
exactly in an inverse proportion to the elevation above Trinity high water mark.
Now in this respect, it will be seen that St. Pancras is remarkably well situated ;
no part of the parish being less than fifty feet above the high water mark, and the
whole parish, on an average, being eighty feet above it; in this respect, it ranks
fourth amongst the Metropolitan districts.
In regard to density of population (another very important element affecting
mortality), in 1841 it ranked twenty-fifth ; since that time, no doubt, it has taken a
higher position on this scale, because its population has increased more rapidly than
that of most districts. If we compare some of the sub-districts with other parishes,
we find that Tottenham Court and Somers Town are more densely populated than
Shoreditch and Bethual Green, and about on a level with Whitechapel. It will be
seen that one district of the parish (Kentish Town) is very thinly populated, not
being built upon for more than half of its extent; it is also very favorably situated as
regards its level; and we shall probably find that its mortality is lower than that of
other districts. The parish, taken as a whole, is twice as densely populated as the
whole of London.
In St. Pancras Parish the average annual mortality, during the years 1841 and
1851, was twenty-four to every thousand living; now, it has been ascertained, that
the amount of mortality which is natural to a Town population, and cannot be prevented
by such sanitary regulations as have been put in force in some places, is
not more than seventeen in the thousand.
From this, it may be calculated, that in the ten years from 1841 to 1851,
ten thousand three hundred and thirty-seven more persons died in St Pancras than
would have died had sanitary measures been completely carried out. Since 1851,
the annual mortality has not been quite so much as twenty-four to the thousand,
but not far short of it.
It will be my object to ascertain as far as possible the causes on which this excessive
mortality is dependent, and to report to you on them, especially calling your
attention to such as admit of being readily removed.
To descend from great things to small, I should like to adduce one illustration of
the manner in which sanitary measures will not only save the lives of the population
and prevent disease, but also materially diminish the expenses of the parish.
During the past three months, one hundred and sixty-one persons have been sent
to the Fever Hospital, at the expense of the parish, of whom thirty-four have died;
* It will be seen that, on tliis division, Camden and Kentish Towns do not exactly correspond with Camden
and Kentish Towns proper.