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 1883
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington]
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12
statistics. In Brompton the rich and well-to-do form a
large proportion of the population, whilst in the Town subdistrict
there is a considerable and increasing percentage of
persons of the poorer classes. The poor in Kensington,
however, possess one advantage over the poor in some other
parts of the Metropolis, in that for the most part they live
in well-built houses obviously intended for occupation by the
lower middle class, miles of streets of such houses being now
inhabited by a class of persons who, in the more ancient
parts of the Metropolis, find shelter in dwellings that by
way of comparison might be called squalid.
The Parish of Kensington is for some local purposes divided into "Wards:" the subjoined table shows the acreage of the wards, their population, and the number of inhabited houses, etc., in 1871 and 1881.
| Name of Ward. | Area in StatuteAcres. | Inhabited houses | Increase in 10 years. | Population. | Increase 10 years. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1871. | 1881 | 1871. | 1881. | ||||
| St. Mary Abbotts | 846 | 4,781 | 6,573 | 1,792 | 35,696 | 48,604 | 12,908 |
| Holy Trinity, Brompton | 439 | 3,224 | 3,936 | 712 | 22,128 | 26,746 | 4,618 |
| St.John, Notting hill & St. James Norland | 905 | 7,730 | 9,594 | 1,864 | 62,475 | 87,574 | 25,099 |
The rateable annual value of property in the several wards
in 1871, was St. Mary Abbotts, £323,992; Holy Trinity
£246,716; St. John and St. James, £365,012: total, whole
parish, £935,720. In 1881 the returns show for the first
and second wards, which cannot now be given separately,
a rateable value of £1,078,512 (increase, £507,804); for St.
John and St. James, of £501,704 (increase £136,692):
total, whole parish, £1,580,216 (increase £644,496).
The subjoined figures will be found interesting as marking the development of the parish in population and wealth, since the beginning of the century.
| The Year. | Population. | Rateable value of Property. | The Year. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1801 | 8,556 | £75,916 | 1823 |
| 1821 | 14,428 | 93,397 | 1833 |
| 1841 | 26,834 | 142,772 | 1843 |
| 1851 | 44,053 | 257,103 | 1853 |
| 1861 | 70,108 | 444,030 | 1863 |
| 1871 | 120,299 | 975,046 | 1873 |
| 1883 (July) | 168,000 | 1,711.683 (April) | 1883 |