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 1909
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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those metropolitan borough councils which had not yet adopted the Act, and in October the Board made
an Order declaring the Act in force from and after the 30th November, 1909, in the area of each of
the councils of the metropolitan boroughs of Bethnal Green, Camberwell, Chelsea, Hammersmith,
Lewisham. and Wandsworth.
Under this Act the London County Council receives particulars of the births which have been notified to the medical officers of health of the several sanitary areas in London, and from the information thus received the following table has been prepared; the figures for those districts in which the Act had been in operation for the whole of the year have alone been included:
| Sanitary area. | Total births notified (corrected for institutions). | Stillbirths (corrected). | Births, less stillbirths (corrected). | Births registered (corrected). | Excess of registered over notified births (corrected). | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paddington | 2,535 | 61 | 2,474 | 3,120 | 646 | ||
| Kensington | 2,330 | 37 | 2,293 | 3,362 | 1,069 | ||
| Fulham | 3,327 | 69 | 3,258 | 4,307 | 1,049 | ||
| St. Marylebone | 2,084 | 34 | 2,050 | 2,595 | 545 | ||
| Hampstead | 1,238 | 27 | 1,211 | 1,328 | 117 | ||
| St. Pancras | 4,291 | 128 | 4,163 | 5,609 | 1,446 | ||
| Islington | 7,301 | 257 | 7,044 | 8,320 | 1,276 | ||
| Stoke Newington | 634 | 10 | 624 | 1,025 | 401 | ||
| Holborn | 873 | 22 | 851 | 976 | 125 | ||
| Finsbury | 2,909 | 59 | 2,850 | 2,810 | — | ||
| London, City of | 229 | 5 | 224 | 247 | 23 | ||
| Poplar | 4,379 | 96 | 4,283 | 5,192 | 909 | ||
| Southwark | 6,168 | 179 | 5,989 | 5,969 | — | ||
| Bermondsey | 4,077 | 78 | 3,999 | 4,104 | 105 | ||
| Lambeth | 5,140 | 57 | 5,083 | 7,578 | 2,495 | ||
| Battersea | 2,938 | 74 | 2,864 | 4,447 | 1,583 | ||
| Woolwich | 2,627 | 61 | 2,566 | 2,947 | 381 | ||
Comparison of the number of births notified, after deduction of still births, in districts in which
the Notification of Births Act has been in operation during the whole year, with the number of births
registered after correction for births occurring in institutions indicates that in some districts the requirement
of the Notification Act has not yet been fully complied with, notwithstanding the efforts of sanitary
authorities to make that requirement known. In Southwark and Finsbury the number of births notified
slightly exceeds the number of births registered, due to the fact that the average interval between
birth and registration is much longer than that between birth and notification. The numbers relating
to births registered and notified shown in the table have been corrected by distribution, to the districts
to which they belong, of births occurring in lying-in hospitals.
Deaths.
The number of deaths in the Administrative County of London in 1909 (52 weeks) was 67,632,
giving an annual death rate of 14 0 per 1,000 of the estimated population. '
The death-rate in successive periods has been as follows:—
| Period. | Death-rate (All Causes) per 1,000 persons living. | Period. | Death-rate (All Causes) per 1,000 persons living. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1841-50 | 24.8 | 1903 | 15.21 |
| 1851-60 | 23.7 | 1904 | 16.11 |
| 1861-70 | 24.4 | 1905 | 15.11 |
| 1871-80 | 22.5 | 1906 | 15.11 |
| 1881-90 | 20.3 | 1907 | 14.61 |
| 1891-1900 | 19.21 | 1908 | 13.81 |
| 1901 | 17.11 | 1909 | 14.01 |
| 1902 | 17.21 |
The death-rate in each year since 1840 in relation to the mean death-rate of the period
1841-1909 is shown in diagram III.
The following table has been prepared for the purpose of comparing the death-rate of London
with those of other English towns having populations which exceeded 200,000 persons at the census
1 See footnote (2) page 6.