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Section 2.—Wealth of Population—Irish.—The inhabitants of the district of
St. Giles occupy all positions on the social scale. It is difficult to find a test by which
to compare their resources with the residents in other districts. The amount in the
pound raised to the relief of the poor, and the average annual house value, considered
together, will be a useful rough standard, and is used in the table.
The amount assessed on each district to the county-rate, divided by the population,
gives also a useful idea of the relative richness or poverty of a district. Thus
examined, St. Giles is poorer than some, but richer than other of its neighbours.
It is not so much, however, averages and means of property value, that determine
the poverty of a district, for the purposes of a Health Officer It is more
important for him to be aware of the actual amount of the very lowest and poorest that
it contains, for these are the persons among whom disease is chiefly engendered and
perpetuated.
Without disparagement to our sister island, which seems to produce alike the
noblest and the lowest in the social scale, it must be confessed that the relative numbers
of Irish in our London districts, will furnish no bad guage of the extremity of poverty.
Now, at the census of 1851, the Irish in the Metropolis, in St. Giles, and in
the districts immediately adjacent, were as follows;—the persons born in Ireland constituted
8½ per cent. of the whole population of London ; in St. Giles they were 20
per cent.; in Holborn, 17; in the Strand and Marylebone, each, 9½; in St. Martin's,
8.7; in St. Pancras, 6.3 per cent., of the whole number of residents.
It is further to be noticed incidentally, that in St. Giles and Holborn, the
population born in Ireland, who had not reached the age of 20 on the census night,
amounted to one-third of the whole number, while in the other districts, and in
the town generally, the Irish under 20 were only one-quarter, or one-fifth of the whole.
From this it would appear that immigration from Ireland is on the increase in St.
Giles, compared with other districts.
If to the residents who were born in Ireland, we add those of the first generation
born in England, of Irish parents, it is evident that the excess of this class is
really considerable in St. Giles, Holborn being the only neighbouring district to be
compared with it. As far, therefore, as it is fair to regard the numbers of Irish
as a test of poverty, St. Giles is shown to contain more of the extremely poor than
any of the surrounding districts.
Section 3.—Age of Population.—It is a matter of some consequence, as
bearing on the facts which are hereafter to appear, concerning the rate of infantile
mortality, to ascertain whether or not St. Giles contains more or fewer children than
the town generally, because a high proportionate mortality among infants would, of
course, be accounted for if the number of children were larger in one district than in
another. It appears, however, that in St. Giles, in 1851, only 107 of every 1,000 of
the population were under 5 years of age, while in the town generally there were 124
per 1,000. Hence our mortality among infants to hold the same proportion to the total
mortality which obtains in the metropolis, ought to be numerically smaller, in the ratio
of nearly six to five.