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
Marylebone 1912
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St. Marylebone, Metropolitan Borough]
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7
POPULATION.
The population of the Borough at the middle of 1912, as estimated by the
Registrar General, was 116,155. In 1901, when the census was taken, it was 133,301.
The census population of 1911 was 118,221, and the decrease 15,080, or roughly
1,500 a year.
In estimating populations, the Registrar General bases his calculations upon the
two preceding census populations, and according as there has been an increase or a
decrease in the more recent over the one immediately before it, in each succeeding
year obtains a figure higher or lower than that resulting at the time of enumeration.
There having been a fall in the population of St. Marylebone between 1901 and
1911, between 1911 and 1921, when the next census is due to be taken, there will
continue to be shown a falling population each year by the method of estimation
adopted by the Registrar General. Since April 2nd, 1911, it is calculated to have
been reduced by 2,066. The estimated reduction between the middle of 1911 and the
middle of 1912 is 1,689.
The populations of the four Sub-Districts for the last four years, estimated by the same method, are:—
| 1909. | 1910. | 1911. | 1912. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Souls | 33,460 | 33,239 | 29,392 | 28,971 |
| St. Mary | 35,878 | 35,641 | 32,025 | 31,566 |
| Christ Church | 37,379 | 37,133 | 36,425 | 35,903 |
| St. John | 19,310 | 19,182 | 20,002 | 19,715 |
| 126,027 | 125,195 | 117,844 | 116,155 | |
| All of these, as well as the total population of the Borough are, it must be | ||||
remembered, merely estimated. It is not claimed for the method by which the figures
are obtained that it is accurate. For the purposes of a review of the health of the
Borough, however, it is necessary to have some figure representing population upon
which to work out birth, death, and disease rates, and that calculated by the Registrar
General's method is more satisfactory and more nearly correct than any estimated in
any other way.
As to why there should be a decrease in the population and why it should be
regarded as continuing year after year, the explanation given in the Report for 1911,
as follows, will serve:—
" The main cause of the decrease is undoubtedly emigration; a factor which the
method of estimating the population cannot accurately take into account.
Numbers of small houses have been demolished within recent years, and in their
place have appeared, in most cases, premises intended for workrooms, and in a
smaller number of cases, premises for human habitation.
The persons displaced by these alterations, unable to find suitable accommodation
within the Borough, have gone elsewhere for a home. This process will doubtless
continue, and more and more of the district will cease to be residential, the population
becoming more and more a day population."