London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Battersea 1899
Report upon the public health and sanitary condition of the Parish of St. Mary, Battersea during the year1899
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40
Seventeen deathsof infants occurred whilst in bed with parents;
the necessity of infants being provided with a separate cot has
been the frequent subject of caution by Coroners. The following
gives the dates and days upon the mornings of which deaths were
discovered, and is of interest, it being popularly regarded that
those discovered on Sunday mornings are associated with the
intoxicated state of the parent or parents on the Saturday night:—
1898
28th December Wednesday.
1899
4th January Wednesday.
6th „ Friday.
23rd ,, Monday.
28th „ Saturday.
29th ,, Sunday.
8th February Wednesday.
19th „ Sunday.
1899
6th March Monday,
ioth May Wednesday.
13th ,, Saturday.
18th June Sunday.
18th „ Sunday.
5th August Saturday.
10th „ Thursday.
19th December Tuesday.
21st ,, Thursday.
They are here classified according to the days of the week :—
| Sunday | 4 |
| Monday | 2 |
| Tuesday | |
| Wednesday | 4 |
| Thursday ... | 2 |
| Friday | |
| Saturday ... | 3 |
| 17 |
SICKNESS AND MORTALITY AMONGST THE
PARISH POOR.
Except in the case of notifiable infectious diseases, little
opportunity is afforded of judging as to the relative proportion
between sickness and mortality. For the purposes of the Poor
Law, however, registers are kept by the Medical Officers of all
cases of "out-door" medical relief, and also of the mortality
amongst such cases ; a summary prepared from those registers is
therefore of some value. It does not of course follow that all the
cases attended to, represent serious sickness; on the contrary,
many are of a comparatively trivial nature, and are included under
the heading of " all other diseases." The return shews a