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 1878
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington]
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34
in Brompton 888. The birth-rate (whole parish) was 30 per 1,000,
as compared with a Metropolitan rate of 36.2 per 1,000. The rate in the
Brompton sub-district was only 22.4, that in the Town sub-district
being 32.5 per 1,000. There was one birth to 33.3 persons living;
the males born were as 101.5 to 100 females, the relative per-centage of
births being, males 50.5, females 49.5. The illegitimate births, were
220 in number, or 4.3 per cent. of total births. Of the illegitimate births,
192 took place in the Town sub-district, which includes the parish
workhouse. At this institution out of 119 births 89 were of illegitimate
children.
The decennial birth-rate in Kensington (1868-77) was 31.9 per
1,000.
The subjoined table shows the quarterly number of births of each sex registered:—
| Kensington Town Sub-District. | Brompton Sub-District. | Grand Total. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Males. | Females. | Total. | Males. | Females. | Total. | ||
| 1st Quarter | 513 | 503 | 1016 | 128 | 122 | 250 | 1266 |
| 2nd „ | 468 | 450 | 918 | 105 | 129 | 234 | 1152 |
| 3rd „ | 477 | 446 | 923 | 104 | 102 | 206 | 1129 |
| 4th „ | 437 | 425 | 862 | 88 | 110 | 198 | 1060 |
| Total | 1,895 | l,824 | 3,719 | 425 | 463 | 888 | 4,607 |
The regular decrease in the number of births from the first quarter
to the last is somewhat remarkable.
DEATHS AND DEATH-RATE.
The deaths registered exceeded the number in 1877 by no fewer
than 496, and they exceeded the corrected decennial average by 136.
The gross number (whole parish) was 3,097: males 1,524, females
1,573; in the Town sub-district 2,408, and in Brompton 599. The
death-rate, whole parish, was 20.3 per 1,000 persons living (0.8 above
the decennial average), equal to one death to 49.5 of the population.
The Metropolitan rate was 23.5 per 1,000. After making the necessary
corrections by distributing the deaths at the parish infirmary, which is
in the Town sub-district, and at the Consumption Hospital, which is in the
Brompton sub-district (the, 101 deaths of non-parishioners at the latter
institution being retaind in our vital statistics by way of compensation
for deaths of parishioners outside the parish), the estimated death-rate