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

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Kensington 1902

Annual report on the health, sanitary condition, etc., etc., of the Royal Borough of Kensington for the year1902

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19
In London, as a whole, the mortality from these diseases last year was 17 per cent. below
the corrected decennial average.
The total deaths were 10,393. The mortality from small-pox shows a considerable excess,
that of the other diseases a decrease.

The following table shows the rate of mortality per 1,000 persons living from the principal zymotic diseases in Kensington and London, and in England and Wales, in 1902.

Small pox.Measles.Scarlet Fever.Diphtheria.Whooping Cough.Fever.Diarrhœa.
Kensington0.060.520.120.110.120.110.45
London0.280.510.120.250.400.130.54
England and Wales0.070.880.150.280.290.130.38

SMALL-POX.
The epidemic of small-pox which began in 1901— its history occupied a considerable space
in the last annual report— did not die out until the third quarter of 1902 was well advanced. In
the ninth monthly report it was stated that on the 6th September there were only 95 cases under
treatment, all at Long Reach (temporary) Hospital; the hospital ships having been closed in July.
Gore Farm Hospital had already been vacated: the Orchard (temporary) Hospital, furnished and
made ready for patients, had not been utilised. The time thus appeared appropriate for a retrospect
of the epidemic as it affected Kensington and other parts of the Metropolis, and the information
contained in the thirteen four-weekly reports for the period of 52 weeks, commenced August 11th,
1901, and ended August 9th, 1902, was summarised as below.
The statistics of the epidemic as they relate to the Borough, and the Metropolis, as a whole,
are set out in the tables A to F.
Tables A and B (pages 20 and 21) of notifications and deaths in the several Boroughs show the
rise, the progress and the decline of the epidemic.
Table C (page 22) summarises the statistics, for London, as a whole, and Kensington.
Table D (page 23) shows the number of cases in the Borough as a whole, and in the
Registration sub-districts, the Parliamentary Divisions and the nine Wards.
Table E (page 24) shows the incidence of the disease upon streets and houses in Kensington.
Table F (page 23) shows particulars of the fatal cases, of which 8 belong to North
Kensington and 4 to South Kensington.
Prior to August 11th there had been, in 1901, only one case of small-pox in the Borough—
that of a gentleman who had become infected in Paris*, whilst in London the cases notified
were only 41, all told.
Subsequent to August 9th, 1902, to the end of the year, only 131 cases were notified in
London, including one in Kensington, in the month of August.
During the specified period of 52 weeks, the notifications of cases in Kensington were 106,
and the deaths, including 3 of non-parishioners, 12. The notifications in London, as a whole,
were 9,335, the deaths 1,518, of which all but 86 occurred in hospital.
* See No. 1 Monthly Report, 1901, page 4. In this connexion it may be mentioned that the epidemic was thought to
have originated, in August, through the importation of cases from Paris; and to have been spread by infected clothing, among
the employées at a suburban laundry. The boroughs first to be severely affected were St. Pancras and St. Marylebone.