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7
The two sub-districts differ widely in respect of the social status
of their inhabitants. Speaking generally the rich and well-to-do
form a large proportion of the population in "Bromptoh," the
"poor" being few in number; while the Town sub-district contains
a large preponderance of the poorer classes. And though the
constant decrease in out-door relief, which is set out in the published
reports of the proceedings of the Board of Guardians might seem
to point to a different conclusion, I believe that the poor inhabitants
are increasing in number in the northern parts of the parish.
The poor in Kensington, however, have one advantage over the
poor in some other parts of the Metropolis, especially in the
East end, viz., that they live in houses obviously intended for a
superior class of people: miles of streets of such houses being now
inhabited by a class of persons who, in the older parts of the Metropolis,
find shelter in dwellings that by comparison might be described
as squalid. Rents are high, as might be expected, and
there is a good deal of overcrowding, which leads me to anticipate
the probability that ere long, unless a remedy is provided,
of which I do not see any present prospect, the Kensington rate of
mortality will approximate more nearly to the Metropolitan rate
than hitherto.
It is difficult to estimate with precision the relative population
of registration sub-districts at inter-census periods; but from a
careful consideration of the number of inhabited dwellings, &c., I
am disposed to believe that the estimate of 38,000 as the population
of Brompton in July, 1876, is very near the mark, and that in
the previous year I was rather below the mark in fixing it at
35,250. Assuming the correctness of this estimate, the following
figures show how widely the sub-districts differ in respect of their
vital statistics. Deducting the deaths of non-parishioners at the
Consumption Hospital, and adding a fair proportion of the deaths
in the parish infirmary to those registered in Brompton, it would
appear that the rate of mortality in the latter district was only
14.9 per 1,000 persons living, while the rate in the "Town" subdistrict
was 20.2 per 1,000. An equally striking difference is
parent in the sex death-rate. The census of 1871 revealed the fact
of a great disproportion in the relative numbers of the sexes, and
assuming a continuance of the same ratio it would appear that the
excess of female population was 27,500 in July, 1876, and that the
death-rate in females was only 16 per 1,000 the males-rate being
24.6. In an estimated male population of 60,250 there were 1487
deaths, while the deaths in the female population of 87,750 were
only 1,409. It need hardly be stated that these remarkable facts
of excessive female population and low female death-rate have an
influence on the sanitary statistics of a very pervading character,
and constitute a warning to us not to rely on a low gross death-rate
as an infallible evidence of salubrity.