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 1887
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington]
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the lowest on record. The rate in England and Wales, moreover,
shows a decrease of 05 per 1,000, compared with 1886,
and 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:—
| 1887. | 1886. | 1895. | 1884. | 1883. | 1882. | 1881. | 1880. | 1879. | 1878. | 1877. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kensington | 16.4 | 15.9 | 10.1 | 15.1 | 15.5 | 16 2 | 16.6 | 17.8 | 18.8 | 20.2 | 17.3 |
| London | 19.6 | 19.9 | 19.7 | 20.3 | 20.4. | 21.4 | 21.2 | 21.7 | 22.6 | 23.1 | 21.5 |
| W. Districts | 19.0 | 19.2 | 19.2 | 19.2 | 19.5 | 19.9 | 19.6 | 19.8 | 20'9 | 21.6 | 19.2 |
| North ,, | 17.8 | 18.1 | 18.5 | 19.1 | 19.1 | 19.7 | 20.6 | 20.8 | 21.5 | 22.0 | 21.5 |
| Central ,, | 26.0 | 23.6 | 230 | 23.8 | 23.2 | 23.9 | 23.2 | 23.4 | 26.0 | 25.1 | 24.2 |
| East ,, | 22.5 | 23.3 | 22.5 | 230 | 24.1 | 25.3 | 24.2 | 24 3 | 25.5 | 25.0 | 24.5 |
| South ,, | 18.6 | 19.1 | 18.5 | 19.8 | 19.4 | 20.7 | 20.5 | 21.3 | 21.8 | 23.0 | 20.5 |
| England & Wales | 18.8 | 19.3 | 19.0 | 19.6 | 19.5 | 19.6 | 18.9 | 20.5 | 20.7 | 21.6 | 20.3 |
The Registrar-G eneral, in his Annual Summary of Births,
Deaths, and Causes of Death in London," speaks of 1887 as " a
year of remarkably low rates ; the marriage rate and the death
rate being each the lowest on record, and the birth rate the
lowest since 1849." Referring to the low death rate in 1886,
the Registrar-General made an observation, equally true in
regard to the still lower death rate in 1887, to the effect that
the " marked decline m 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." The RegistrarGeneral,
as usual, has prepared a table showing diminution or
excess of deaths in 1887, compared with annual deaths in 187786,
corrected for increase of population, from which we learn
that there was a marked diminution in the number of deaths from