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
Islington 1896
Forty-first annual report on the health and sanitary condition of the Parish of St. Mary, Islington
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37
[1896
The year's record would have been disheartening were it not for
the fact that such diseases as Measles and Whooping Cough are subject
to little control, and that Islington does not stand alone with a high
mortality from Diphtheria, the increased prevalence of which has been
generally ascribed to the aggregation of children in large numbers in
schools.
On the other hand, it is gratifying to notice that such diseases as
Enteric Fever and Diarrhœa, which are the two diseases most amenable
to improved sanitation, show a decreased mortality.
It should be stated that the Zymotic death-rate of the country
was generally in excess of the average of the preceding 10 years.
The following is a statement of the death-rates in other populous places:—
| England and Wales | 2.18 per 1,000 inhabitants. |
| 33 Great Towns | 2.86 „ „ |
| 67 Other Large Towns | 2.51 „ ,, |
| Rural England and Wales. | 1.60 „ „ |
| Registration London | 3.11 „ „ |
| The Encircling Districts | 2.96 „ „ |
| St. Pancras | 2.47 „ „ |
| Stoke Newington | 2.35 ,, ,, |
| Hackney | 2.81 „ „ |
| Hornsey | 1.15 „ „ |
| Clerkenwell | 3.78 „ „ |
| St. Luke | 3.82 „ „ |
| Shoreditch | 4.31 „ „ |
| Islington | 2.98 ,, ,, |
From these figures it does not appear that the Islington death-rate
was greatly in excess of other populous places. Thus, it was only
slightly higher than the rate that prevailed in the 33 great towns, and
was actually less than that of London, while it was practically identical