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ANNUAL REPORT
of the
MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH.
GENTLEMEN,
In presenting to you My Annual Report for the year
1877, I beg to state, that it is the first that I have had the
privilege to lay before you. I have to thank you for the
honour you have conferred upon me in appointing me to the
distinguished post of Medical Officer of Health to this important
district, and I hope and trust that my services will prove
satisfactory to your Board, and beneficial to the inhabitants
whom you represent.
POPULATION .
The first subject that I beg to bring before your
notice, is the question of population. From calculations that
I have made upon the number of the inhabitants in the
district, at the different times the census has been taken
during the last 27 years, I am able to inform you with almost
absolute certainty (in the absence of the census being taken),
that we have a population of about 96,000 inhabitants ; about
58,000 in the parish of Hammersmith, and about 38,000 in
the parish of Fulham. My calculation is based upon the
number of births, these having continued in the same proportion,
without any material variation, at the different times
that the census has been taken, giving a ratio of 35.5 births per
annum to 1,000 inhabitants.
MORTALITY.
The number of deaths registered during the year, was
1,765, against 1,963 in the previous year. The average number
of deaths in the three previous years being 1,839. This
diminution in the death-rate is remarkable, when we take into
consideration the epidemic of small-pox which has visited us.