London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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St Giles (Camberwell) 1878

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Camberwell]

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68
birth-rate, per 1,000, for London in 1877, was 36.3,
and in 1878, 36.2; and it may be added that for years
past it has been maintained at about 36 per 1,000.
This, however, is by no means the birth-rate of all
the districts which compose London, for it is a
generally admitted fact that the birth-rate is higher
in poor districts than it is in wealthy ones. And in
accordance with this belief, it appears from the Census
returns that in 1871 the birth-rate of Dulwich was
only 22 per 1000, while that of Camberwell was 33,
those of Peckham and St. George's 35 and 36
respectively, and that of the whole Parish 34.7. I will
assume then, as is not improbable, that the birth-rates
of Camberwell and of its several parts have been
maintained, up to the present time, at somewhere
about the same rates as were determined at the time
of the Census-taking; and, for reasons which it is
scarcely worth while to explain, I will take the birthrate
of Dulwich to be exactly what it was then ascertained
to be, namely, 22; that of the Camberwell subdistrict
to be 35; those of Peckham and St. George's
to be 36.5; and that of the whole Parish to be the
mean of these. On these assumptions the population of
Camberwell, in the middle of 1878, amounted to
162,208, instead of 154,286, and the parochial deathrate
becomes 20.64 instead of 21 .79; the population of