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INTRODUCTORY.
.
Population.—The population of the Borough at the last Census, enumerated
on the night of Sunday, the 2nd April, 1911, was found to be 118,221, distributed in
the registration Sub-Districts as follows:—
The Borough, All Souls, St. Mary, Christ Church, St. John.
118,221. 29,485. 32,126. 36,544. 20,066.
The previous Census taken in 1901 enumerated the population at 133,301, so
that during the period of ten years there was a decrease of 15,080. Since 1911 there
has not, of course, been a further enumeration and the population figure for each of
the years has been estimated by a special method devised by the Registrar-General.
Each year, as shown in the table given below, the population has been found to be
smaller than in the preceding year, until in 1919 it touched just under 98,000. Being
based upon an estimate only and on enumerations made so long ago this figure would
in any event probably be considerably out. Having regard to conditions in respect of
housing it is almost certainly very far wrong. Judging from appearances it is not
unlikely that the population actually is, if not considerably over the 1911 enumeration,
probably not far under. The figures for each of the sub-districts having been worked
out by proportion are only very approximate.
Year. The Borough. All Souls. St. Mary. Christ Church. St. John.
1911 118,221 29,485 32,126 36,544 20,066
1912 116,155 28,971 31,566 35,903 19,715
1913 114.532 28,567 31,124 35,402 19,439
1914 112,892 28,158 30,678 34.895 19,161
1915 100,260 25,002 27,260 30,901 17,015
1916 98,573 24,540 26,892 30,403 16,738
1917 92,796 23,098 25,334 28,621 I5,752
1918 98,526 24,528 26,880 30,391 16,727
1919 97,953 24,381 26,731 30,210 16,631
Despite what has been said with regard to the accuracy of the figures, it is,
nevertheless, certain that the population has greatly diminished, the result wholly of
change in the character of the Borough. Not for a very long time has St. Marylebone
been, so far as its main portion at least is concerned, anything like exclusively
residential. This part, which may be taken roughly to run from Tottenham Court Road
on the east, to Edgware Road on the west, and from Oxford Street on the south, to
Marylebone Road on the north, is too near the City and too definitely on the
westward line of commercial progress to escape absorption. Year by year, for many
years, premises used for human habitation have either been demolished to make way
for huge shops, dress or motor warehouses, or blouse factories or hotels, or have been
transformed into offices or workshops. During the ten years previous to the outbreak
of war, this change went on with such rapidity that in some neighbourhoods, at the
eastern end particularly, the whole appearance altered, rows of houses, many of them
accommodating several families, being swept away to be replaced by large blocks of
business premises. Despite the war the change continues, though on a smaller scale,
and here and there a house or a block of houses falls and workshops, a shop or a bank
takes its place.
Most marked in the southern and eastern parts of the Borough, change has not
been limited to these. Maida Vale, St. John's Wood, and Lisson Grove even, which
has always been the most definitely working class, poor and thickly populated area,
have not escaped. To provide sites for wholesale premises, warehouses, shops,
factories and such-like large buildings, numbers of houses have been removed. The