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CARSHALTON URBAN DISTRICT.
Medical Officer's Report for the year 1904.
I.—Preliminary.
Constitution and Extent.—The district, which comprises the parish of Carshalton, was constituted
an Urban District in 1883. It is roughly rectangular in shape, about 3½ miles in length from north to
south, and slightly over one mile in breadth from east to west, and covers an area of 2,926 acres.
Physical Features and Soil.—The town is situated at the foot of the Chalk Downs, upon the chalk
and the outcrop of the London tertiaries—Thanet Sand and Woolwich and Reading beds—at a height
varying from 100 feet to 150 feet above sea level. An outlying district to the south, known as
Carshalton-on-ihe-Hill, is situated on the chalk at a height of 250 feet, and the Wrythe to the north is
upon the London clay at a height of 100 feet. A bed of river gravel overlies the greater part of the
London Clay and Tertiaries. In the extreme south of the district the Chalk rises to a height of 400 feet.
The natural drainage is into the river Wandle, of which one of the heads arises from a number of
springs and ponds in the district.

Water Supply.—The whole of the district is supplied by the Sutton Water Company from a well
in the chalk in the Sutton district.
Drainage.—The main sewerage scheme was completed in 1899, and the sewers have since been
extended to include Carshalton-on-the-Hill and the whole of the southern portion of the district, which
was not provided for in the original scheme. The sewage passes at the outfall into septic tanks, the
effluent from which is treated by downward intermittent filtration through artificially prepared beds, and
finally by irrigation over land. The effluent has at all times been satisfactory. Water closets with
flushing apparatus have been provided, with few exceptions, for each house, and the drains of practically
all premises in the district have been relaid, ventilated, trapped, and connected with the sewers during
the past six years.
II.—Population, Births, and Deaths, 1904.
Population.—The Population of the district in the middle of the year under review may be
estimated at 7,250, assuming that it has increased at the same rate since the Census 1901, as it did
during the preceding decade.
Births.—The number of Births registered in the district during the year was 195, representing a
Birth-Hate of 27 per thousand of the estimated population, which is also the average rate for the
preceding 10 years. The rate for England and Wales was 27.9 for the year.
Deaths.—The number of Deaths registered in the District during the year was 117, to which must
be added 11 deaths of parishioners in the Epsom Infirmary and the Brookwood County Asylum. Of
the 117 deaths, 84 occurred in the town, 9 in the Cottage Hospital, 1 in the Home for Friendless
Girls, and 23 in the Croydon Rural Isolation Hospital; five of the persons who died at the Cottage
Hospital were parishioners of Carshalton, but the remaining 28 deaths in these Institutions occurred
among patients belonging to other districts, and have to be deducted in estimating the Death-Rate. The
nett deaths, therefore amounted to 103, which represent an Annual Death-Rate of 14.2, as against an
average rate of 13.4 for the preceding ten years, and a rate of 16.2 for England and Wales for the year.
Forty-six deaths were those of males, and 57 those of females.
Causes of Death.—Three deaths were ascribed to Whooping Cough, 9 to Diarrhoea, 1 to
Influenza, 6 to Phthisis, 14 to other Diseases of the Lungs, 7 to Cancer, 5 to Heart Diseases,
2 to Appendicitis, and 10 to Old Age. Four deaths certified to be due to Enteritis were transferred to
Diarrhoea, and two deaths certified to be due to Abdominal Tumour were transferred to Cancer, as the
result of information which I obtained by enquiry from the certifying practitioners.