London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Kensington 1881

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington]

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67
rendered necessary by the Act for the Quinquennial re-valuation of
the Metropolis, many properties, e.g., stables, that were formerly
rated in combination with houses, etc., being now separately
assessed. In Table 1, Appendix, third column, the numbers of
"inhabited houses" are based upon the rate-book returns, these
being the only available source of information, excepting in Census
years, and in 1881 (July) the number in that column is higher by
563 than the number given by the Registrar-General in the Census
return (April). Before going further it may not be out of place to
state that I have availed myself of the Census returns to calculate
afresh, where necessary, the statistics in Tables 1, 2, 5, and 7
(Appendix), some of which, therefore, do not exactly correspond
with the figures in the same tables in previous annual reports.
The corrections, however, found necessary in respect of some of
the years between 1871 and 1881, based upon a re-calculation of
population, etc., do not affect to any appreciable extent the totals
for the decennium with which we are chiefly concerned, as the
basis of comparison for the figures of 1881. But to return:—the
increase of population in the decennium, 1871-81, was 42,852,
(28,496 in the Town sub-district, and 14,356 in Brompton,) or 35.5
per cent.—about half the per centage increase in the decennium
1861-71 (71.5); but the numerical increase 1871-81 (42,852)
is only 7,339 less than the increase in 1861-71 (50,191);
and whereas the natural increase, i.e., excess of births over deaths,
in 1861-71, was 9,341, or 18.5 per cent. only, it was in 1871-81,
16,445, or 38.6 per cent. The increase by immigration, 1861-71,
was 40,850, or 81.5 per cent.; 1871-81 it was 26,407, or 61.6
per cent. The population of the Town sub-district increased in the
decennium 1871-81, from 91,645 to 120,141, viz. 28,496, or 31.0
per cent., the natural increase (14,570) being very slightly in excess
of the increase by immigration (13,916). The population of the
Brompton sub-district increased from 28,654 to 43,010, viz.,
14,356 or 50.1 per cent., but the natural increase (2,847) accounts
for about 25 per cent. only of the total increase, as against 75 per
cent., the immigration increase (11,509). The number of inhabited
houses according to the Registrar-General, increased by 4,368,
or 27.7 per cent., the increase in the Town sub-district being
2,306, or 11.1 per cent., and in the Brompton sub-district,
2,062, or 50.7 per cent. The number of persons living in a house