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
Kensington 1893
The annual report on the health, sanitary condition, &c., &c., of the Parish of St. Mary Abbotts, Kensington for the year 1893
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The violent deaths were classified as follows : Accident, 61, viz:—
| By suffocation ; of infants under one year (in bed) | 13 |
| By burn, scald | 8 |
| By drowning | 3 |
| By poison | 2 |
| By fractures and contusions 35, viz.— | |
| By vehicles | 8 |
| By falls under various circumstances | 20 |
| By injuries, otherwise | 7 |
| Suicide, 16, viz.— | |
| By hanging | 1 |
| By cut, stab | 4 |
| By poison | 5 |
| By pistol-shot | 3 |
| By drowning | 2 |
| Otherwise | 1 |
| Homicide (Manslaughter) | 1 |
The Suicidal Deaths (eight of which belong to the Brompton
sub district), comprised 9 of males and 7 of females.
Among the deaths described as " sudden," and in other
cases of persons " found dead," &c., there were, as usual, many
that were ascertained to have been caused by curable visceral
diseases, so that there must have been culpable neglect of the
deceased, in that medical attendance had not been procured,
although the illnesses, doubtless, extended over many days,
and could scarcely have failed to be marked by obvious
symptoms of a more or less serious and painful nature. The
mere finding of the " cause of death," in such cases, which is
the primary object of inquisition, seems scarcely to satisfy
the requirements of justice; considering that the death of