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 1884
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington]
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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 described as 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 Statute Acres | Inhabited houses | . Increase in 10 years. | Population | Increase in 10 years. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| . 1871. | 1881. | 1871. | 1SS1. | ||||
| St. Mary Abbotts | 846 | 4,781 | 6,573 | 1,792 | 35,696 | 48,604 | 12,908 |
| Holy Trinity | 439 | 3,224 | 3,936 | 712 | 22,128 | 26,716 | 4,618 |
| Brompton | |||||||
| 81. John, Notti n g | 905 | 7,730 | 9,594 | 1,864 | 62,475 | 87,574 | 25,099 |
| Hill & St. James | |||||||
| Norland | |||||||
The rateable annual value of property in the several wards, in
1871, was as follows:—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 for the first and
second wards, which cannot now be given separately, show
a rateable, value of £1,078,512 (increase, £507,804); for St.
John and St. James, £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 |
| 1881 | 163,151 | 1,580,216 | 1881 |
| 1884 (July) | 170,000 | 1,769.563 | (April) 1885 |
SUMMARY OF VITAL STATISTICS, 1884.
The first fact to be noted is that, as already mentioned, the
Kensington death rate in 1884 (15.1 per 1000), was lower than
that of any previous year of which we possess the vital statistics.