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

Tottenham 1893

Report of the health of Tottenham for the year 1893

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Table: The following table shows the number of cases reported to the Sanitary Authority under the " Infectious Diseases Compulsory Notification Act," and their distribution by Words in the district.

The following table shows the number of cases reported to the Sanitary Authority under the " Infectious Diseases Compulsory Notification Act," and their distribution by Words in the district.

Locality.Small Pox.Choleraic Diarrhoea.Diphtheria.Membranous Croup.Erysipelas.Scarlet Fever.Enteric Fever.Relapsing Fever.Typhus.Continued Fever.Puerperal Fever.Total.
West Green Ward342119613...4160
St. Ann's Ward1013312514036.........3249
High Cross Ward74061715363......1287
Middle Ward403371612214......12235
Lower Ward ,12221014020.........3198
Total5811621879651146......1131129

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Small Pox.
There was one death from Small Pox in 1893, that of a child
aged 13 days, at Mitchley Road, Stoneleys South.
It will be seen by the table that 62 cases occurred in the district.
Out of this number 40 were reported from the Middle Ward,
chiefly from the neighbourhood of Stoneleys South. This is a very
thickly populated neighbourhood, and there is no doubt that the large
number of attacks is to be accounted for by the want of due care on the
part of those who were in attendance on the patients, and had the
supervision of the various channels of communication. There is reason
to believe that several infected articles of bedding, &c., have in some
instances been removed from the room the patient occupied before
fumigation could be carried out, notwithstanding express warnings to
the contrary. Under circumstances such as these it is not difficult to
account for the persistent prevalence of a disease like Small Pox.
It was found in four cases that the patients had not been vaccinated
at all, and very great difficulty was experienced in persuading
the inmates of infected houses to be re-vaccinated.