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ANNUAL REPORT
MADE TO
The Board of Works of the Lewisham District,
FOR THE YEAR 1864,
BY
F. E. WILKINSON, M.D., L.R.C.P.E., M.R.C.S., L.A.C.,
Medical Officer o f Health for the Lewisham District;
Medical Officer to North Surrey District School;
Surgeon P Division of Police.
Gentlemen,
In accordance with the provisions of the 43rd Section of
the Metropolis Management Amendment Act, 18G2 (25 and 26
Victoria, cap. 102), which enacts that "The Medical Officer
of Health shall make an Annual Report to the District Hoard
of the Sanitary condition of the District," &c. I present to
you this my Report for the year ending December, 1864,
former publications having consisted of monthly reports, together
with tables of mortality for each year.
The Lewisham District consists of the Parish of Lowisham
and the Hamlet of Penge.
The Statistical Reports as to Births and Deaths relate to
certain divisions for the purpose of registration, entitled by
the Registrar General sub-districts, and to each of which there
is a Registrar of births and deaths.* Thus, according to the
census of 1861, the population was as under, viz.—
Blackheatli (a portion of the Lee sub-district in the
parish of Lewisham) 4,841
Lewisham Village (sub-district) 7,372
Sydenham (sub-district) 10,595
Ilamlet of Penge (a portion of Croydon sub-district) 5,015
Total population of District 27,823
But as more than 3 years have elapsed since the census
was taken, and the population has increased considerably
during that time, in order to arrive at an approximate knowledge
of the Birth and Death rate, the increase of population
must be taken into account for that time ; I have therefore
added to the known population of the different sub-districts
a number equivalent to the rate of increase which was found
*These sub-districts must not be confounded with the Wards, the population
of which, according to the census of 1861, was:- Blackheath Ward 5,492;
Lewisham Ward 8,994; Sydenham Ward 8,322; Hamlet of Penge 5015. Total
population of district 27,823.