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History of the Smallpox Epidemic in
Lambeth Borough, 1901-2.
Smallpox, which had been quiescent for many years in London,
broke out in epidemic form in the N.W. Districts, and slowly (but
steadily) increased, spreading eventually into all other parts of
London. The Table on page 38 gives the total cases in Lon-
don and Lambeth removed to the Hospitals of Asylums
Board, together with the number of deaths, since 1885, the
year in which Smallpox patients were first removed away from
London. The first case that appeared in Lambeth Borough was
notified on August 27th, 1901, at 11, Meadow Place, South Lambeth
Road (Henry 0., aged 50 years), and was traced to St. Paneras
Borough, where at that time the Smallpox was spreading
rapidly. This was the only case in Lambeth in August, and in
September 2 further cases occurred, followed by 11 in October,
18 in November, and 22 in December—making a total of 54 up to
the end of the year 1901. Since then, 350 additional Smallpox
cases have been notified in Lambeth Borough, so that the total
number of cases that have occurred during the epidemic in Lambeth
is 404, and of these, 64 have died, giving a death-rate of
15.8 per cent.
Of the 404 notified cases, 220 were males and 184 females,
whilst of the 220 males, 177 were vaccinated and 43 unvaccinated;
and of the 184 females, 148 were vaccinated and 36 unvaccinated.
6 of the cases notified were stated, to have been also re-vaccinated,
and 2 to have had previous attacks of Smallpox, but both the
re-vaccinations and the previous attacks of Smallpox took place
many years ago (in each instance over 20 years). The ages of
the re-vaccinated cases were—
Males : 37, 46, 48 years.
Females : 34, 35, 40 years.
and in two instances (Henry H, aged 48, and Kate B., aged 40)
death resulted.
The two men who were stated to have had previous attacks of
Smallpox, were 38 and 44 years of age respectively, and of these
one (Alfred T.), aged 44, died.
Of the 64 deaths, 33 were males and 31 females ; whilst of the
33 males, 22 were vaccinated and 11 un-vaccinated; and of the
31 females, 16 were vaccinated and 15 un-vaccinated. Sub-
dividing into age periods, it is seen that
a. Of the 404 notified cases, there were—
6 under 1 year of age (all unvaccinated),
13 between 1 and 5 years (4 vaccinated and 9 un
vaccinated),
31 between 5 and 10 years (7 vaccinated and 24 unvaccinated),