London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Southwark 1894

Annual report for 1894 of the Medical Officer of Health

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Parish of St. George the Martyr, Southwark.
The highest were:—
Preston 20.8 per 1,000
Sunderland 20.8 „
Salford 21.0
Liverpool 23.8 ,,
The death rate of Edinburgh was 17.4, that of Glasgow 19.7, and that of Dublin
24.8.
The lowest rates in foreign and colonial cities were :—
Brussels 14.3 per 1,000
The Hague 17.0 „
Berlin 17.7 „
Hamburg 18.0 ,,
Copenhagen 18.7 ,,
Stockholm 18.8 „
While the highest were:—
Madras 37.9 „
Alexandria 40.6 ,,
Bombay 44.3 „
Cairo 51.9 „
Although there is reason for alarm at the high and increasing death-rate of the
Borough Road sub-district, yet one cannot help feeling a good deal of satisfaction
with the figures for the whole parish during the past year. The annual death-rate
for 1894 has dropped to 23.9 as against 27.6 in 1893. This fall of 3.7 brings the
result within 6.2 of that of the whole of London. Moreover, if we take the recorded
rate for the past 50 years we find that there has been a decrease from 30 in the
decade 1841-50 to 23.9 in 1894. The last figures point to the encouraging fact
that the death-rate of this parish touched the lowest point recorded for the last half
century; in fact, since official returns of this kind have been systematically
recorded. These results certainly appear, on the face of them,'to furnish proof of the
value of sanitary progress to the community. At the same time it should be borne
in mind that there is still room for large and permanent reduction in the death-rate
of St. George the Martyr.

Table VI.

YearsSt. George, Southwark.London.
Death-rate per 1,000.Death-rate per 1,000.
1841—50 inclusive3025
1851—60 „2724
1861—70 „2724
1871—80 „25.222.4
1881—90 „25.020.5
189225.220.3
189327.621.3
189423.917.7

Zymotic or Preventable Death Rate.
It may be noted that the term "zymotic" applies to the following seven diseases :
—Small-pox, measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, whooping cough, "fever" (i.e.,
typhus, simple continued and typhoid), and diarrhoea.