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19
In London the birth rate amounted to 25.6, or 2.1 per
1000 below the average for the past 5 years and also the
lowest on record. Here again wide variations occur according
to the districts : e.g., City of London 13.7, Hampstead 15.1,
City of Westminster 17.2, Kensington 19.0, Holborn 19.4,
Stoke Newington 20.0; on the other hand Stepney 88.6,
Shoreditch 33.0, Bethnal Green 31.8, Bermondsey 81.7, Poplar
31.0, Finsbury 29.8, Southwark 29.8.
Illegitimacy.—During the year 1907, 4,582 infants were
registered in London as having been born out of wedlock. This
figure gives a proportion of 37 per 1,000 births, which is equal
to the average proportion in the preceding ten years.
In Lewisham of the 3,622 registered births, 92 or 25.4
per 1,000 were registered as being illegitimate, compared with
23.8 and 33.3 per 1,000 in the two previous ten years.
On reviewing the returns of illegitimate births it is found
that 52 per cent, of these children were born to domestic
servants.
Of the 92 illegitimate births, 9 under 1 year or 9.8 per
cent, proved fatal, giving an infant mortality of 97.8 per 1,000
births.