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5
Area of Borough.
The Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell covers an area of
4,480 acres, and is divided into 20 wards.
Social Conditions of the Area.
Camberwell is essentially a dormitory Borough, situated in the
south-east part of the administrative County of London, extending
from the Crystal Palace in the south to South Bermondsey in the
north.
Its greatest length and breadth are 4¾ miles and 2½ miles
respectively, and in outline it may be described as pear-shaped.
From a line drawn from the Borough of Lambeth on the west to the
Borough of Deptford on the east, the contour gradually tapers to
the southernmost point of the Borough at the Crystal Palace.
The greatest height, 365 feet above Ordnance Datum, is found
at Sydenham Hill in the extreme south of the Borough.
The area south of a line drawn from Kennington Gate to New
Cross Gate extending to the residential area of West Dulwich is
occupied for the most part by persons in more or less financially
comfortable circumstances. The district north of this line is
thickly populated, the number of persons per acre varying from
153.1 in the Addington Ward in north-west Camberwell, to 103 4 in
the Clifton Ward, Peckham.
In this area the inhabitants, with few exceptions, are of the
working class, many of whom are unemployed and very poor. In
the northern part of the Borough the majority of the factories and
workshops are situated.
The chief industries in the Borough are those associated with
the manufacture of gas and its by-products, factory laundries, paperworks,
food preparation, timber trades, engineering and wearing
apparel.
None of these occupations can be stated to have had any marked
influence on the health of the persons engaged in them.
Extracts from Vital Statistics for 1932.
Total.
M.
F.
Live Births
Legitimate
3,494
1,752
1,742 Birth Rate per 1,000
Illegitimate
120
59
61 of the estimated
resident population.
Totals
3,014
1,811
1,803 14.6
Still-Births
106
49
57 Rate per 1,000 total
(live and still-births)
births
28.5
Deaths
2,983
1,482
1,501 Death Rate per 1,000
of the estimated
resident population.
12.0