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 1886
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington]
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10
0.3 per 1,000, compared with 1885; but with the two exceptions
of 18.9 in 1881, and 19.0 in 1885, was the lowest recorded
in any year since civil registration began in 1837.
The subjoined table shows the annual death rate per 1,000 persons living, in each of the last eleven years, in Kensington, in London, as a whole, and in all England:—
| Death Rate. | 1886. | 1885 | 1884. | 1883. | 1882. | 1881. | 1880. | 1879. | 1878. | 1877. | 1876. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kensington | 15.9 | 16.1 | 15.1 | 15.5 | 16.2 | 16.6 | 17.8 | 18.8 | 20.2 | 17.3 | 19.5 |
| London ... | 19.9 | 19.7 | 20.3 | 20.4 | 21.4 | 21.2 | 21.7 | 22.6 | 23.1 | 21.5 | 21.9 |
| W. Districts | 19.2 | 19.2 | 19.2 | 19.5 | 19.9 | 19.6 | 19.8 | 20.9 | 21.6 | 19.2 | 20.9 |
| North „ | 18.1 | 18.5 | 19.1 | 19.1 | 19.7 | 20.6 | 20.8 | 21.5 | 22.0 | 21.5 | 22.1 |
| Central „ | 23.6 | 23.0 | 23.8 | 23.2 | 23.9 | 23.2 | 23.4 | 26.0 | 25.1 | 24.2 | 24.1 |
| East „ | 23.3 | 22.5 | 23.0 | 24.1 | 25.3 | 24.2 | 24.3 | 25.5 | 25.0 | 24.5 | 23.9 |
| South ,, | 19.1 | 18.5 | 19.8 | 19.4 | 20.7 | 20.5 | 21.3 | 21.8 | 23.0 | 20.5 | 21.2 |
| England & Wales | 19.3 | 19.0 | 19.6 | 19.5 | 19.6 | 18.9 | 20.5 | 20.7 | 21.6 | 20.3 | 20.9 |
The Registrar-General, in his "Annual Summary of Births,
Deaths, and Causes of Death in London," speaks of 1886 as "a
year of remarkably low rates; the marriage rate being the lowest
on record, the birth rate the lowest since 1850, and the death
rate (19.9) lower than in any previous year, excepting 1885"
(19.7). He adds that the "marked decline in the death rates of
recent years," for the decline has been continuous since 1882
(21.4), " has been doubtlessly in some part due to the decline in
the birth rate, which must have materially diminished the proportion
of children under five in the total population. Had the
birth rate in the successive five years 1882-86 been equal to the
birth rate in the ten years 1871-80, there would have been, as
nearly as can be estimated, some 50,000 more children under five
living in 1886, and as the mortality in this first life-period is
high, the general death rate would have been raised, and at a
rough estimate, would have been about 20.4 instead of being
as it was 19.9. It would still, therefore, have been exceptionally
low." In a table appended to the above observations, the
Registrar-General shows diminution or excess of deaths in 1886,
compared with annual deaths in 1876-85, corrected for increase of
population, from which we learn that there was a marked diminution
in the number of deaths from all the principal zymotic
diseases, diarrhœa diseases excepted, and a diminution in deaths,