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 1875
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Wandsworth District, The Board of Works (Clapham, Putney, Streatham, Tooting & Wandsworth)]
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sarily depends. This difficulty is especially noticeable in
the suburbs of the Metropolis, where the population is
liable to great fluctuations, under the disturbing influences
of emigration and immigration. The operation of the
latter has, of late years, prevailed in this District,* in
common with all the southern districts, to such an extent
as to prevent the requisite degree of accuracy in deducing
the death-rate by the ordinary method of calculation, such
as is employed by the Registrar-General, and which consists
in dividing the number of deaths by the population, the
estimate of the population being based on the assumption
that it has increased since the period of the last census in
the same proportion as it had done during the ten preceding
years. So calculated, the rate of mortality in this
District during the year 1875 was 20.87 per 1000 persons
living on an average during the year.
The ratio of deaths to estimated population in each of the Sub-districts is shown in the following Table :—
| SUB-DISTRICTS. | Estimated Population in the middle of 1875. | Deaths. | Ratio of Deaths to Population. | Excluding Non- Parishioners who have Died in Public Institutions. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battersea | 68,648 | 1,724 | 1 in 40 | 1 in 42 |
| Wandsworth | 22,524 | 420 | 1 in 53 | 1 in 64 |
| Clapham | 30,088 | 548 | 1 in 55 | No appreci-able dif- ference |
| Streatham, Tooting, & Balham | 16,340 | 237 | 1 in 69 | |
| Putney & Rehampton | 10,693 | 167 | 1 in 64 |
* An illustration of this was furnished in East Battersea during the year 1874,
when an influx of some 3000 persons took place to inhabit the Shaftesbury Park
Estate, a reference to which will be found in the summary for that Sub-district,
This correction is necessary, in consequence of the undue exaltation of the
Death-rates of Battersea and Wandsworth by the mortality of the Union Infirmary
in the former, and of the Surrey County Lunatic Asylum, St. Peter's Hospital, and
the Hospital for Incurables in the latter, Sub-district.