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
Islington 1910
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Islington, Metropolitan Borough of]
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107 [1910
These figures show that these diseases are not nearly so prevalent as
formerly; while the enormous decrease of 6989 cases is very significant of
the good sanitary work, practical and educational, that has been steadily going
on during these twenty years. They, too, give all the more satisfaction because
when the records of separate diseases are examined, they indicate that each one
is decreasing, not only in proportion to population, but in actual numbers.
The returns for the several years are set out below::—
| Years | Cases. | Attack-rates per 1,000inhabitants. | Years. | Cases. | Attack rates per 1,000 inhabitants. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1891 | 2,059 | 6.43 | 1901 | 2,852 | 8.52 |
| 1892 | 3,318 | 10.26 | 1902 | 3,164 | 9.29 |
| 1893 | 4,853 | 14.84 | 1903 | 1,707 | 5.12 |
| 1894 | 3,121 | 9.44 | 1904 | 1,941 | 5.84 |
| 1895 | 2,839 | 8.50 | 1905 | 1,928 | 5.81 |
| 1896 | 3,824 | 11.32 | 1906 | 2,275 | 6.87 |
| 1897 | 2,906 | 8.62 | 1907 | 2,063 | 6.25 |
| 1898 | 2,418 | 7.18 | 1908 | 2,289 | 6.82 |
| 1899 | 2,943 | 8.75 | 1909 | 2,049 | 6.23 |
| 1900 | 2,276 | 6.78 | |||
| 1891-1909 | 50,825 | 8.06 | |||
| 1910 | 1.525 | 4.65 |
Altogether there have been 52,350 cases notified, which represent a mean
attack rate during these twenty years (1891-1910) of 7.85 per 1,000 inhabitants
of the Borough.
It may be that the attack rates which obtained in some other boroughs,
even in some of the six Encircling Boroughs, are lower than that of Islington,
but it is very doubtful if any of them are really as good when the large
percentage of working-class people who reside in it are taken into consideration.
It is this fact which makes the returns so eminently satisfactory. Islington is
not what it was as a residential district, for while the proportion of the well-todo
classes has decreased, apparently for no reason beyond a desire to live in
the outer suburbs of London, or even farther afield in the country, the proportion
of labourers and artizans has increased.