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 1895

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]

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Table: The following table shows the London death rate compared with the death rates of ten foreign cities in 1885-94 and 1895; in the former period the London death rate exceeded that of all the foreign cities and in the latter exceeded the death rates of all but Copenhagen.Whooping cough—Death rates per 1,000 living.

The following table shows the London death rate compared with the death rates of ten foreign cities in 1885-94 and 1895; in the former period the London death rate exceeded that of all the foreign cities and in the latter exceeded the death rates of all but Copenhagen.

Whooping cough—Death rates per 1,000 living.

Ten years, 1885-94.1895.Ten years, 1885-94.1895.
London.63341St. Petersburg.23.32
Paris.17.18Berlin.29.26
Brussels.21.11Vienna.11.13
Amsterdam.38.27Rome.09.04
Copenhagen.41.68New York.28.27
Stockholm.25.03

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In 1895, of the London districts, the eastern districts suffered most from this disease,
and the northern least. Shoreditch had the highest death rate (.71), and Woolwich the lowest (.07).
During the preceding ten years the eastern districts had the highest rates and the western the
lowest. Limehouse had the highest rate (.97), and Hampstead and the City the lowest (.31 each).

Table: The deaths and death rates in each sanitary district in 1895, and the mean death rates of the period 1885-94, are shown in the following table—

The deaths and death rates in each sanitary district in 1895, and the mean death rates of the period 1885-94, are shown in the following table—

Sanitary district.Deaths in 1895.Death rates per 1,000 living.Sanitary district.Deaths in 1895.Death rates per 1,000 living.
1885-94.1895.1885-94.1895.
Paddington20.44.16Shoreditch87.89.71
Kensington38.46.22Bethnal-green34.84.26
Hammersmith43.66.42Whitechapel19.51.24
Fulham50.45St. George-in-the-East21.72.45
Chelsea35.66.36Limehouse40.97.69
St. George, Hanoversquare26.32.33Mile-end Old-town42.79.38
Poplar80.72.47
Westminster15.56.28St. Saviour, Southwark13.67.51
St. James10.42.43St. George, Southwark38.90.63
Marylebone39.47.28Newington71.78.59
Hampstead7.31.09St. Olave7.51.59
Pancras94.61.39Bermondsey20.76.23
Islington79.64.24Rotherhithe10.68.25
Stoke Newington5.54.15Lambeth132.61.45
Hackney65.31Battersea53.62.33
St. Giles13.54.34Wandsworth24.13
St. Martin-in-the-Fields6.38.45Camberwell68.66.27
Greenwich55.67.32
Strand3.56.12Lewisham37.45.36
Holborn8.69.26Woolwich3.52.07
Clerkenwell41.73.62Lee5.46.13
St. Luke21.75.51Plumstead5.09
London, City of3.31.09London1,485.632

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Typhus.
During the year 1895, 15 cases of typhus were notified, and 5 deaths from this cause were
registered in the administrative county of London.
The death rates from this disease per 1,000 living in 1895 and in preceding periods, were as
follows—
1871-80 .055
1881-90 .008
1891 .0222
1892 .0032
1893 .0012
1894 .0012
1895 .0012
The death rate of each year since 1868 in relation to the mean death rate of the period
1869-95 is shown in diagram XIV.
Inquiry as to the cases of typhus notified in London in the year 1895 resulted in the following
information being obtained—
January.—On the 3rd January a male, aged 10, living in Bermondsey, was certified to be suffering
from typhus. He had been resident in the house where he was taken ill for some
time past, and attended a school in the neighbourhood. No source of infection could
be traced, and no one else living in the house was attacked by illness. The boy was
removed to hospital on January 3rd, and the diagnosis of typhus fever was not
confirmed.
On the 27th January a male, aged 16, living in Botherhithe, was certified to be
suffering from typhus. The patient was removed to the South Eastern hospital,
where the diagnosis was not confirmed.
1 See footnote (1), page 10.
2 See footnote (2),page 10.