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 1888
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington]
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England and Wales, moreover, shows a decrease of 1.0 per 1,000,
compared with 1887, 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:—
| 1888. | 1887. | 1886. | 1885. | 1884. | 1883. | 1882. | 1881. | 1880. | 1879. | 1878. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kensington | 15.9 | 16.4 | 15.9 | 16.1 | 15.1 | 15.5 | 16.2 | 16 6 | 17.8 | 18.8 | 20.2 |
| London | 18.5 | 19.6 | 19.9 | 19.7 | 20.3 | 20.4 | 21.4 | 21.2 | 21.7 | 22.6 | 23.1 |
| W. Districts | 16.9 | 19.0 | 19.2 | 19.2 | 19.2 | 19.5 | 19.9 | 19.6 | 19.8 | 20.9 | 21.6 |
| North „ | 16.4 | 17.8 | 18.1 | 18.5 | 19.1 | 19.1 | 19.7 | 20.6 | 20.8 | 21.5 | 22.0 |
| Central „ | 27.2 | 26.0 | 23.6 | 23.0 | 23.8 | 23.2 | 23 9 | 23.2 | 23.4 | 26.0 | 25.1 |
| East ,, | 21.1 | 22.5 | 23.3 | 22.5 | 23.0 | 24.1 | 25.3 | 24.2 | 24.3 | 25.5 | 25.0 |
| South „ | 17.3 | 18.6 | 19.1 | 18.5 | 19.8 | 19.4 | 20.7 | 20.5 | 21.3 | 21.8 | 23.0 |
| England & Wales | 17.8 | 18.8 | 193 | 19.0 | 19.6 | 19.5 | 19.6 | 18.9 | 20.5 | 20.7 | 21.6 |
The Registrar-General, in his "Annual Summary of Births,
Deaths, and Causes of Death in London," speaks of 1888 as " a
year of remarkably low rates; the marriage-rate and the deathrate
being each the lowest on record, and the birth-rate the
lowest since 1841." 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 1888, to the effect that
the "marked decline in the death-iates 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
Registrar-General, as usual, has prepared a table showing
diminution or excess of deaths in 1888, compared with annual