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 Giles (Camden) 1861
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St. Giles District]
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| Order of Sequence, 1861. | Locality of | Deaths from Lung Diseases. | Mortality per 10,000. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bronchitis. | Inflammation of Lungs & pleura | Total. | From acute lung diseases. | From all lung diseases | |||
| Chronic. | Acute. | ||||||
| Best 1st. | Russell-square | 4 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 14 |
| 2nd. | A. Bedford-square | 3 | — | 5 | 8 | 12 | 20 |
| 3rd. | L. Lincoln's Inn-fields | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 22 | 31 |
| 4 th. | H Northern Drury-lanc. | 11 | 3 | 5 | 19 | 16 | 37 |
| 5th. | C. Coram-street | 18 | 6 | 6 | 30 | 20 | 49 |
| 6th. | D. Bloomsbury-square | 12 | 11 | 7 | 30 | 34 | 57 |
| 7th. | F. Dudley-street | 20 | 10 | 26 | 56 | 40 | 62 |
| 8th. | K. Southern Drurv-lane | 12 | 11 | 12 | 35 | 45 | 69 |
| Worst 9th- 10th | E. Church-lane........... | 14 | 8 | 15 | 37 | 49 | 79 |
| G Short's-gardens | 18 | 18 | 14 | 50 | 50 | 79 | |
| Workhouse Inmates | 18 | – | 1 | 19 | — | — | |
| Whole District | 132 | 71 | 96 | 299 | 32 | 55 | |
The principal variation from the experience of previous years observed
in 1861 consists in the unusual prevalence of lung diseases in the Short's
Gardens and Church Lane localities.* And there was a remarkably small mortality
from lung diseases in the neighbourhood to the north-east of Drury Lane,
where as a rule these diseases in their chronic form largely prevail, owing to
the number of Common lodging houses there congregated.
The two preceding years are given with 1861.
| Violent Deaths. | 1859. | 1860. | 1 61. | Total of 3 years. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| In Locality A | 3 | — | 2 | 5 |
| ,, B | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| „ C | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| ,, D | 6 | 7 | 2 | 15 |
| „ E | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| „ F | 13 | 11 | 6 | 30 |
| ,, G | 9 | 8 | 10 | 27 |
| ,, H | 4 | 7 | 11 | 22 |
| „ K | 8 | 7 | 2 | 17 |
| „ L | 3 | 2 | — | 5 |
| In Workhouse | — | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Whole District | 53 | 47 | 41 | 141 |
Having regard to the numbers and class of the population in each locality,
this result is much what might have been expected, though the neighbourhood
of Church Lane would scarcely have been supposed to yield so small a
proportion of violent deaths.
* It was especially acute lung diseases that caused the mortality in these two
districts, where zymotic diseases were also unusually rife. This connection between the
zymotic class of diseases and acute lung diseases in their distribution has been before
pointed out in these reports. In this instance, however, measles was one of the epidemic
diseases in question, and this is notoriously apt to be followed by acute disease of the
lungs. It may furthermore be observed above, that chronic lung diseases again
follow consumptive discuses in their prevalence through the several districts.