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19
Dulwich 27, for Camberwell 488, for Peckham 753 and for St.
George's 575; and the difference between this corrected mortality
for the year 1864, and the similarly corrected mortality
for 1863, becomes for Dulwich an increase of 3 deaths, for Camberwell
an increase of 66, for Peckham a decrease of 10 and for
St. George's an increase of 84.
There is no doubt however that the population of Camberwell
has increased considerably between the middle of 1863 and the
middle of 1864 ; and relatively far more considerably than that
of either London as a whole, or that of any one of its five groups
of districts. This is shewn partly by the experience of former
years; partly by the common knowledge we possess with regard
to the rapid increase of houses, especially of late, in most
parts of the parish; and in a remarkable way by the rapid increase
in the number of births. From 1857 (of which year
I first have returns of births), the number of children born has
regularly increased year by year, and latterly this increase has
been very rapid. There were 150 more children born in the
parish in 1863 than there were in 1862, and 344 more in 1864
than there were in 1863. (Tables IV & VII.)
This increase in the number of births appears all the more
remarkable, if it be compared with the increase during a corresponding
period for the whole of London. For London, the
birth-rate of 1864 shewed an increase of about .2 per cent. only
over that of 1863; for Camberwell there was an increase in the
birth-rate of 13-0 per cent. But the relative amount of increase
varied considerably in the several sub-districts of the parish;—
in Dulwich the births rose from 46 to 53, in Camberwell
from 698 to 774, in Peckham from 1087 to 1156 and in St.
George's from 807 to 999 ; the rate of increase being for Dulwich
15.2 per cent.. for Camberwell 10.9, for Peckham 6.3 and
for St. George's 23.8. Now, doubtless, some portion of this great