Population
In 1548 75 communicants (16 years and over) were
certfied in the parish. (fn. 3) By the 1720s there were said to be
461 families in the parish and about 20 in the Royal
Hospital. (fn. 4) In 1801 there were 2,746 families and a total
population of 11,604. (fn. 5) The Table below gives decennial
population totals, taken from the censuses, for the area
equivalent to the main parish of Chelsea, and excludes
the figures for Kensal New Town, transferred to
Paddington and Kensington MBs in 1900. (fn. 6)
| Table of Population 1801-1991 | |
|
Year | Total Population |
| 1801 | 11,604 |
| 1811 | 18,262 |
| 1821 | 26,860 |
| 1831 | 32,371 |
| 1841 | 39,796 |
| 1851 | 53,725 |
| 1861 | 59,881 |
| 1871 | 67,717 |
| 1881 | 73,079 |
| 1891 | 74,466 |
| 1901 | 73,842 |
| 1911 | 66,385 |
| 1921 | 63,697 |
| 1931 | 59,031 |
| 1951 | 50,957 |
| 1961 | 47,256 |
| 1971 | n/a |
| 1981 | 29,215 |
| 1991 | 32,850 |
Footnotes
| 3 |
Chantry Cert. p. 73. |
| 4 |
Guildhall MS 9550, s.v. Chelsea. |
| 5 |
CL, SR 61, 'Population Bk of St Luke's Par., Chelsea, 1801'. |
| 6 |
Census, 1801-1841; LCC, Statistical Abstract for London, IV
(1901); XIV (1911-12); XXI (1917-26); XXIX (1927-37); XXX
(1937-46); XXXI (1939-48); LCC, Stats. of MBs, 1956-7, 1962-3. |