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
London County Council 1893
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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The death rates per 1,000 living from this disease in 1893 and previous periods were as follows—
| 1851-60 | 0.88 | 1891 | 0.68† |
| 1861-70 | 0.88 | 1892 | 0.58† |
| 1871-80 | 0.81 | 1893 | 0.54† |
| 1881-90 | 0.69 |
London, however, notwithstanding this progressive decline in the death rate, still had in 1893
and the preceding ten years, a death rate higher than those of the majority of the other large English
towns.
| Ten years, 1883-92. | 1893. | Ten years, 1883-92. | 1893. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | 0.65 | 0.54* | West Ham | 0.75 | 0.68 |
| Manchester | 0.66 | 0.47 | Bristol | 0.49 | 0.34 |
| Liverpool | 0.69 | 0.55 | Bradford | 0.45 | 0.50 |
| Birmingham | 0.58 | 0.66 | Nottingham | 0.53 | 0.27 |
| Leeds | 0.46 | 0.44 | Hull | 0.49 | 0.38 |
| Sheffield | 0.57 | 0.38 | Salford | 0.73 | 0.49 |
Compared with the following foreign cities, London, both in the period 1883-92 and in 1893' suffered more heavily from whooping cough.
| Mortality per 1,000 persons living, 1883-92. | Mortality per 1,000 persona living, 1893. | Mortality per 1,000 persons living, 1883-92. | Mortality per 1,000 persons living, 1893. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | .65 | .54* | St. Petersburg | .22 | .20 |
| Paris | .19 | .21 | Berlin | .31 | .35 |
| Brussels | .22 | .21 | Vienna | .14 | .08 |
| Amsterdam | .39 | .32 | Rome | .09 | .07 |
| Copenhagen | .50 | .39 | New York | .30 | .29 |
| Stockholm | .27 | .24 |
The death rate of each year in relation to the mean rate of the period 1841-1853 is shown in
Diagram XIV.
As in the case of measles, several of the medical officers of health lay stress upon the neglect of
precautions for the prevention of the spread of whooping cough, no effort being made in many
instances to isolate infected children or indeed to properlv tend the sufferers.
The death rates in each sanitary district in 1893 and in the preceding ten years is shown in the following table—
| Deaths in 1893. | Death rate per 10,000 in 1893. | Death rate per 10,000 in 1885-92. | Deaths in 1893. | Death rate per 10,000 in 1893. | Death rate per 10,000 in 1885-92. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paddington | 60 | 5.0 | 4.4 | Bethnal-green | 60 | 4.6 | 9.2 |
| Kensington | 65 | 3.9 | 4.8 | Whitechapel | 26 | 3.5 | 5.2 |
| Hammersmith | 50 | 4.9 | 6.7 | St.George-in-the-East | 23 | 5.1 | 7.3 |
| Fulham | 82 | 7.9 | Limehouse | 64 | 11.2 | 10.2 | |
| Chelsea | 68 | 6.9 | 6.9 | Mile-end Old-town | 44 | 4.1 | 8.6 |
| St. George, Hanover- | 14 | 1.8 | 3.5 | Poplar | 74 | 4.4 | 7.9 |
| square | St. Saviour, South | 20 | 7.5 | 6.9 | |||
| Westminster | 15 | 2.7 | 6.2 | wark | |||
| St. James | 8 | 3.3 | 4.5 | St. George, South | 74 | 12.4 | 9.2 |
| Marylebone | 78 | 5.6 | 4.8 | wark | |||
| Hampstead | 6 | 0.8 | 3.4 | Newington | 109 | 9.3 | 7.9 |
| Pancras | 106 | 4.5 | 6.5 | St. Olave | 3 | 2.3 | 5.3 |
| Islington | 197 | 6.0 | 6.5 | Bermondsey | 46 | 5.5 | 8.1 |
| Hackney | 165 | 6.9 | 5.6 | Rotherhithe | 33 | 8.3 | 7.1 |
| St. Giles | 18 | 4.7 | 5.3 | Lambeth | 151 | 5.4 | 6.5 |
| St. Martin - in - the - | 2 | 1.4 | 4.1 | Battersea | 114 | 7.2 | 6.6 |
| Fields | Wandsworth | 81 | 4.7 | ||||
| Strand | 11 | 4.6 | 5.5 | Camberwell | 109 | 4.5 | |
| Holborn | 16 | 4.9 | 7.2 | Greenwich | 100 | 5.9 | 6.9 |
| Clerkenwell | 51 | 7.8 | 7.5 | Lewisham | 8 | 0.8 | 5.3 |
| St. Luke | 40 | 9.6 | 7.7 | Woolwich | 20 | 4.8 | 5.5 |
| London, City of | 4 | 1.1 | 3.3 | Plumstead | 32 | 3.4 | 4.9 |
| Shoreditch | 80 | 6.5 | 9.4 | London | 2,327 | 5.4† | 6.6t |
* See footnote (*), page 6.
t See footnote (f), page 6.