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
St Pancras 1859
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St. Pancras, Metropolitan Borough]
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From these numbers it will be seen that the health of St. Pancras is far from
what it might be. Instead of 219 deaths in the ten thousand living, or 46
living to every death, there ought to be, under the best sanitary conditions, not
more than 170 deaths to ten thousand living, or 58 living to every death; so
that there were nearly 1000 more deaths in 1859 in St. Pancras than would
occur if this Parish were as healthy as some towns in the kingdom. There is
great need yet of sanitary improvements.
The rates of mortality have been very different in different sub-districts of the
Parish, as will be seen by reference to the subjoined Table.
[ Table A. ]
| Areas in Acres. | Population in 1851. | Estimated Population in 1859.1 | Number of Deaths registered in 1859.† | Estimated Mortality in 1859.‡ | Number of Deaths to every 10000 living. | Number of Births to every 10000 living. § | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regent's Park | 427 | 31918 | 34000 | 681 | 784 | 231 | 303 |
| Tottenham Court | 145 | 28433 | 30000 | 690 | 631 | 210 | 307 |
| Gray's Inn Road | 155 | 26522 | 29000 | 566 | 592 | 204 | 322 |
| Somers Town | 184 | 35641 | 39000 | 711 | 828 | 212 | 350 |
| Camden Town | 171 | 21115 | 24000 | 803 | 497 | 207 | 372 |
| Kentish Town | 1634 | 23326 | 39000 | 825 | 944 | 242 | 356 |
| Whole Parish | 2716 | 166956 | 195000 | 4276 | 4276 | 219 | 338 |
[ Table B. ]
| Ratio of Deaths to Births. | Ratio of Deaths under 5 years of age to Births. | Number of Children who died under 5 years of age to every 1000 born. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regent's Park | 1:1.31 | 1:3.29 | 303 |
| Tottenham Court | 1:1.46 | 1:3.13 | 318 |
| Gray's Inn Road | 1:1.58 | 1:4.23 | 236 |
| Somers Town | 1:1.49 | 1:3.63 | 255 |
| Camden Town | 1:1.45 | 1:3.40 | 294 |
| Kentish Town | 1:1.45 | 1:3.39 | 293 |
| The entire Parish | 1:1.53 | 1:3.58 | 279 |
*This estimate is made on the assumption that the population has increased since 1851, in the
ratio of increase of the births. To obtain this latter ratio, the mean number of births in three
years has been taken. Thus the mean number of births in 1857, 58, and 59 being divided by the
mean number of births in 1851, 52, and 53, gives the rate of increase in six years; then by logarithms,
the sixth root of this number is obtained, and this raised to the eighth power gives the rate
of increase in eight years. This method of calculating the population gives lower numbers than
the one usually adopted, which is to calculate that the increase in population since 1851 has been
going on at the same rate as it did between 1841 and 1851. On the latter method the population
of the whole Parish in 1859 would be 204,187. This estimate is probably too high.
† In this column deaths in the Strand Union are excluded.
‡ In this column the deaths which occurred in St. Pancras Workhouse, the University College
and Royal Free Hospitals, instead of being placed in the sub-districts in which those Institutions
are situated, have been distributed amongst the several sub-districts in the proportion of their
population.
§ This column does not represent the birth-rate quite accurately, because the births which
occur in St. Pancras Workhouse, instead of being all of them placed in Camden Town Sub-district,
should be distributed amongst the sub-districts, did we know where the women delivered in that
Workhouse came from.