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
Whitechapel 1864
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Whitechapel]
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All the courts in the district have been during the last nine months periodically
visited by the Inspectors, and a return of the sanitary condition of such
places is made to me daily, according to the subjoined form—
BOARD OF WORKS—WHITECHAPEL DISTRICT.
Inspector's return of daily inspections.
Date, day, the day of 186
I have this day inspected the undermentioned Courts and Places, and I subjoin the following Remarks upon their General Sanitary Condition.
| Name of Court or Place and Parish. | Number of Houses therein. | State of Pavement. | State of Privies. | Condition of Dust Bins. | Nature of Water Supply and condition of the Water Receptacles | General Remarks. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
These returns are preserved and indexed, so that it can be easily ascertained
when, and how often, any particular place has been visited.
In order to check the nuisance, now so common, of persons throwing dust
and rubbish in the public streets proceedings were taken and convictions
obtained against two persons so offending. They were respectively fined
1s. and the cost of the summons. These proceedings have already been
attended with good result.
The number of births registered in the year (53 weeks) was 2,796, of which
1,426 were of males, and 1,370 of females. The deaths were 2,764, viz., 1,513
males, and 2,151 females. In the preceding year the births were 2,813, and
the deaths 2,551. The deaths have exceeded the births in the Sub-Districts of
Mile End New Town, Whitechapel Church, and Aldgate. It appears that the
births in the entire district have exceeded the deaths by 32, but if the
deaths of the 181 non-residents are excluded then the births are in excess of
the deaths by 213; it is, however, very probable that all the births are not
registered, and this neglect on the part of parents to register the birth of their
children is likely to continue until the law renders it compulsory upon the
parents or guardians of a child to register its birth within a given period
(say 21 days) from the time of its birth. In the 27th section of the Act to
provide for the better registration of births, deaths, and marriages in Scotland
(17 and 18 Vict., c. 80), it is enacted, that "the parents or parent, or in case
of the death or inability of the parents, the person in charge of any child born,
and the occupier of every house or tenement, in which, to his or her knowledge,
any birth shall take place, and the nurse present at such birth; and in case of
an illegitimate child, the mother of such child, or in case of the death, illness,
or inability of the mother, the person in charge of such child, or the occupier
of the house or tenement in which, to his or her knowledge, the child was
born, or the nurse present at the birth of such child, shall, within twenty-one
days next after the birth of such child, and under a penalty not exceeding
twenty-one shillings in case of failure, attend personally and give information