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and widening of the Bethnal Green Road, and further between 1877 and 1884
the construction of the Bishopsgate Goods Station, and the extensive alteration and
widening of the railway in connection therewith were carried out. A more recent
change, which deserves to be noted, is the widening of the western end of Green
Street, which took place in 1886-87. As a result of these alterations, 55 courts
have been abolished, and better houses erected by private enterprise.
The population, however, still consists mostly of working people, many of the
poorest class; and new industries, match box making, fish curing, &c., have replaced
some of those which formerly existed. For some years the population has
been tolerably constant, in proportion to the number of houses. In 1841 there were
6.2 persons to each house, and in the four subsequent census years 7.4, 7.8, 7.5, and
7.6 persons respectively. But the rate of increase of total population has been
diminishing, thus, from 1841-51, the increase was 21.7 per cent., and in each succeeding
decade 16.5, 14.3 and 5.7 per cent., the population at the last census
amounting to 126,961.
The gross value of property in the parish at the present time is £493,441, the
rateable value £401,609. The present rate is 6s. 2d. in the pound.
The population of Bethnal Green differs much from that of London as a whole in
the proportion of persons at several age periods. Thus, at the census of 1881 the
population of children under five years of age in Bethnal Green was 15.26 of the
total population of the parish, while in London as a whole only 13.02 per cent, of
the total population were at this age period. This difference is one of old standing;
in 1841 the Bethnal Green population under five was 14.4, that of London 11.8 per
cent. of total population.
In connexion with this subject the marriage rate deserves to be stated. In the
year 1881, which may be taken as an example, the proportion of marriages to 1000
persons in Bethnal Green was 20.5, in London as a whole it was 9.0 per cent., and
further in Bethnal Green of these marriages 13.0 per cent. of the men, and 33.7 per
cent. of the women were under age, while in London as a whole 5.3 per cent, of the
men and 18.3 per cent. of the women were underage. Very similar data are obtainable
from the records of other years.
Under these circumstances, a high birth rate might bo expected, and as a matter
of fact the birth rate in Bethnal Green in 1881 was 41.2 per 1,000 of population,
while in London it was 34.7 per 1,000. The large infantile population explains to
some extent the high death rates of Bethnal Green, the uncorrected rate for the
parish in 1881 being 24.5 per 1,000, that for London being 21.2 per 1,000.
The number of deaths registered each year in Bethnal Green does not afford
a sufficiently exact basis for the calculation of death rates. Since 1882 it
has been possible to correct this number by the addition to it of tho deaths
of persons usually resident in Bethnal Green, but which have occurred in
public institutions situated in other parts of the metropolis, and by the exclusion
of the deaths of persons occurring in public institutions in Bethnal
Green, but who do not usually reside in the parish.
When the number of deaths occurring in each year is thus corrected, and
when further correction is made for the differences between the age population
of Bethnal Green and London as a whole, the following rates result
for Bethnal Green when calculated on the population of each year as
estimated by the medical officer of health: 1883, 22.9; 1884, 22.0; 1885,
21.2: 1886, 22.5 per 1,000, the death rates for London being during theso
years respectively 20.5, 20.5, 19.8, 19.9.