The superficial area of the parish is 2,190 acres, viz., 1,497 in the Town sub-district, and 639 in Brompton. Some 300 or 400 acres are still uncovered by buildings. The density of the population is about 74 persons to an acre. The total number of houses, including empties and those in course of erection, slightly exceeds 20,000. The inhabited houses at the middle of the year were about 17,667, an increase of 747 over the previous year. There were about 7.8 persons to each house on an average throughout the parish; but at the census, 1871, it appeared that the average in the Brompton Sub-district was only seven.
The subjoined table is of interest, showing as it does the remarkable growth of the parish in wealth and population during the present century:
The Year. Population. Rateable Value. The Year. 1801 8,556 £75,916 1823 1821 14,428 93,397 1833 1841 26,834 142,772 1843 1851 44,053 257,103 1853 1861 70,108 375,333 1860 1871 120,299 590,711 1865 1874 (estmtd.) 138,000 817,326 1870 £1,119,442 (April) 1875
The marriages celebrated during the year were 1,311; one marriage to 105.2 of the population. Nineteen persons were married out of every 1,000 living. The marriage rate in all England in 1872 (last year of publication) was 17.5. The marriages in Kensington were celebrated as follows:
In Churches 1077 At Nonconformist Places of Worship 71 At Roman Catholic 70 At the Superintendent-Registrar’s Office 93 Total 1311
The marriages in the three previous years were: 1871, 1,131; 1872, 1,132; 1873, 1,241.
The births registered—registration not being compulsory—were 4,351. The annual birth rate in Kensington was 31.7 per 1,000 persons living, and in the Metropolis 35.7. The births in the Town sub-district were 3,536, and in Brompton 815: 2,216 males and 2,135 females were born. The males formed about 51, and the females 49 per cent of the births—104 males being born to 100 females: about the same proportion as in all England. One child was born to 31.6 of the population. The birth rate in the Town sub-district was 33.6, and in Brompton 24.8 per 1,000. The deficient birth rate, as compared with that of the Metropolis and England, is the result of the great disproportion in the relative number of the sexes already alluded to; the rate, however, is slightly increasing, as may be seen by reference to Tables 1 and 2 (Appendix.)