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12
Lewisham (including Sydenham)
Lee
Kidbrook
Mottingham
Charlton
Eltliam
Plum stead
Comprising a population
of 65,757 persons.
The greatest number of inmates in the house at one time
was 230, but 1,138 paupers passed through the house during
the year.
Scarcely any accommodation is provided for able-bodied
persons, it being the object of the Guardians to make the
Workhouse an Asylum for the sick and infirm; and work is
provided for able-bodied men in the stone yard, &c., when
out of employment.
The establishment seems to be under good management, and
the excellent Medical Officer, Mr. Stott, visits the wards daily
(of course more frequently if necessary), and under his able
superintendence the Workhouse partakes more of the character
of a comfortable hospital.
The mortality was large during the year, 46 deaths having
been registered. But many of the cases when brought to the
hospital were moribund, many hopeless, and others nearly
worn out with old age.
In reviewing the year 1864, we find that it was an exceptional
year, and although this district has stood the test of
comparison with other districts, it was, in common with them,
a year of unusual sickness and mortality.
Of this mortality much has arisen from causes which have
been totally beyond the reach of human control. But the
deaths from diseases of the epidemic class, or those which we
believe may be prevented by attention to sanitary laws, have
been much larger than they should have been.
The mortality from this cause increased from 79 in 18G1,
to 99 in 1862, to 126 in 1863, and 160 in 1864.
I have in each monthly report particularly specified the
locality in which deaths from this cause have occurred, and
from this information it may be readily ascertained where the
exact spots exist in which epidemic disease is likely to originate.
I need only name two of the most patent instances which
will be sufficient as an example. Out of 49 deaths from
epidemic disease which have occurred in Sydenham during
the past year, 17 have taken place in the Wells Road (in