View report page

4
in the third week of June when the rate was only 8.7 per 1,000 inhabitants. Summer
diarrhoea, the prevalence of which in Shoreditch does not seem to have been influenced
by the wetness of the season, began to affect the death-rate towards the end of July
and its effects were apparent until the end of September. Although the deaths from
diarrhoea were fairly numerous the general death-rate of the Borough during the
period remained considerably below the average for the corresponding periods in
previous years. Towards the end of November a slight rise was noticeable, the elevation
lasting until the middle of December. This rise was probably mainly due to an
increase in the number of deaths from diseases of the respiratory organs.
The deaths of infants under the age of one year numbered 676, of which 348 were
of males and 328 of females. They comprised nearly 30 per cent, of the total number
of deaths for the year. The chief causes of the mortality amongst infants were
diarrhoea, wasting and disorders of the digestive organs which are without doubt in
the majority of instances the result of injudicious feeding, prematurity, bronchitis,
pneumonia, the various forms of tuberculosis, and measles. Accident or negligence
resulted in 37 deaths, of which 34 were caused by suffocation in bed, two by burns
and one by drowning. The infant mortality, that is, the number of infants under one
year dying during the year per 1,000 births occurring during the year was 176. The
infant mortality for the Metropolis was 131 being considerably less than that of
Shoreditch. The reasons for this difference have been referred to in previous reports.
The deaths of children aged between one and five years numbered 307, and were
chiefly attributable to measles, whooping cough, tuberculosis, pneumonia, bronchitis
and diarrhoea. Violence through accident or negligence, resulted in 13 deaths,
principally from the effects of being run over in the streets, burns and scalds.
Altogether 983 or a little in excess of 43 percent. of the total number of deaths in
the Borough were of children under five years of age.
The deaths of children aged between five and fifteen years numbered 71, and were
mainly to be attributed to the various infectious diseases, including 22 due to
tuberculosis. Violence through accident or negligence resulted in 6 deaths.
Of persons aged from 15 to 25 years 76 died. The deaths were mostly the
result of infectious disease, and included 28 due to phthisis or consumption.
The deaths of persons aged from 25 to 35 years numbered 121, the chief causes
being consumption, which accounted for 51, and diseases of the heart and respiratory
organs. Bright's disease caused four deaths, and one was attributed to cancer.
Of persons aged from 35 to 45 years there were 199 deaths, of which 70 were
attributed to consumption, 10 to alcoholism, 9 to cancer, 9 to various diseases of the
nervous system, 16 to affections of the heart, 16 to bronchitis, 16 to pneumonia, 7 to
cirrhosis of the liver, and 12 to Bright's disease. Of 9 deaths resulting from violence
six were suicidal.