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
Kensington 1877
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington]
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28
POPULATION, &c.
The estimated population of Kensington in July, 1877, was
151,000, an increase of 3,000 during the year, viz., 2,090, the
balance of births in excess of the number of deaths, and 910 the
gain by immigration. It is always difficult, as I have stated in
former reports, to estimate the population at inter-census periods; I
have good reason to suppose, however, that the above figures do not
differ widely from the truth: based as they are on the number of
inhabited dwellings, and on the known average number of persons
to each house as ascertained at the last census. It is even more
difficult to determine the relative proportion of the sexes, and the
numbers of persons living at different groups of ages, seven years
after a census, and especially in a district where the population has
increased so rapidly, chiefly by immigration, as in Kensington.
The subjoined table, however, furnishes us with some interesting
and reliable figures on these points, ascertained at the census,
1871.
AGES OF MALES AND FEMALES, 1871.
| All Ages. | Under 5 | 5 to 15 | 15 to 25 | 25 to 35 | 35 to 45 | 45 to 55 | 55 to 65 | 65 to 75 | 75 to 85 | 85 to 95 | 95 and upwds. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Males, 48977 | 7066 | 10198 | 8918 | 8317 | 5963 | 4339 | 2464 | 1270 | 378 | 33 | 2 |
| Females 71322 | 7147 | 11527 | 16565 | 14203 | 9080 | 6241 | 3768 | 2000 | 667 | 97 | 7 |
| Total, 120299 | 14212 | 21722 | 25533 | 22520 | 15043 | 105S0 | 6232 | 3270 | 1045 | 130 | 9 |
In April, 1871, the Kensington Town registration sub-district
contained a population of 91,645, and the Brompton sub-district
28,654. So far the certainties. I estimate the population of the
"Town," at the middle of 1877, to be 112,250, and that of Brompton
38,750. The population of the last named district has probably
increased during the last two or three years at a greater relative
rate than that of the Town sub-district—if we may judge from the
activity in the building trade and the large number of new houses
that have been built—not forgetting, however, that many of these
have yet to find occupiers. I have greater diffidence in estimating
the relative numbers of the sexes. We know that in 1871 there
was an excess of more than 22,000 females. The population has
since then increased by rather more than 30,000, and if the same
relative proportions of the sexes have been preserved there should
now be an excess of females amounting to 27,000; i. e., the males
would number 62,000, and the females 89,000. The numerical
preponderance of the female sex may be accounted for by the concurrence
of a variety of causes, including (1) the large number