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
Wandsworth 1865
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Wandsworth District, The Board of Works (Clapham, Putney, Streatham, Tooting & Wandsworth)]
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From the above table and those of former reports has been constructed another, serving to show the annual death rate of the Sub-district for the past ten years, and the proportion of deaths from Zymotic diseases to deaths from all causes in each year.
| YEARS. | Number of Deaths from all Causes. | No. of Deaths from Seven of the principal Epidemic Diseases. | Per centage of Deaths from seven principal Epidemics to Deaths from all Causes. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1856 | 92 | 13 | 14.1 |
| 1857 | 88 | 7 | 7.9 |
| 1858 | 118 | 20 | 16.8 |
| 1859 | 119 | 26 | 21.0 |
| 1860 | 86 | 3 | 3.4 |
| 1861 | 124 | 21 | 16.9 |
| 1862 | 107 | 13 | 12.1 |
| 1863 | 129 | 29 | 22.4 |
| 1864 | 121 | 11 | 9.0 |
| 1865 | 115 | 11 | 9.5 |
It will be seen by this table that the rate of mortality
for the year under review, both in respect to total deaths
from all causes, and the total from the seven principal
diseases of the Zymotic class, is considerably below the
average of the previous nine years.
Assuming the population to have increased only in the
same ratio as it has done in former decennial periods (and
judging from the number of houses erected and inhabited
during the past ten years, there is reason to believe the influx
of new residents has been unusually great) the inhabitants
must have numbered, for the year 1865, at the very least,
7,500. This assumption, it is almost needless to say, is
based on a calculation embracing both the natural increase,
as shown by the excess of births over deaths, and the
supposed increase by immigration." The rate of mortality,
* The deaths being 115, and the births 191, the excess of the latter over the former
is consequently 76, which of course gives the natural increase of the population. There
is reason to believe that the increase, by the influx of new residents, has been every much
larger than the natural increase.