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
Hampstead 1906
Report for the year 1906 of the Medical Officer of Health
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33
If we compare the Hampstead infantile mortality rate in 1906
with the rate in the 76 Great Towns of England and Wales, we again
find our Borough honourably distinguished. In only six of these
towns was the rate below 100, and only in one town—Winchester—
did the figures fall below those of Hampstead. The following table
shows the infantile mortality in each of these six towns in 1906.
Town.
Deaths under 1 year
per 1000 Births, 1906
Winchester 74
Richmond 82
Tunbridge Wells 83
Eastbourne 88
Reigate 91
Oxford 97
The following table shows the rate of infantile mortality in Hampstead as compared with that in the whole of London in each quinquennium since 1880, and in the years 1905 and 1906.
| Years. | Deaths under 1 year per 1,000 births. | |
|---|---|---|
| Hampstead. | London. | |
| 1880-84 | 123 | 152 |
| 1885-89 | 112 | 150 |
| 1890-94 | 116 | 156 |
| 1895-99 | 128 | 164 |
| 1900-04 | 99 | 145 |
| 1905 | 94 | 129 |
| 1906 | 77 | 131 |
It is evident, then, that in the matter of infantile mortality
Hampstead compares favourably with other urban districts in
London and elsewhere; but in considering the mortality statistics
of a large community, it is most important that the figures for the
whole district should be supplemented with those for the various
sub-divisions of the district, especially when, as in the case of
Hampstead, the whole district is made up of parts that vary
widely in the social condition of their inhabitants. Since 1902 it has
been possible to calculate a separate infantile mortality figure for
each of the seven Wards of the Borough, and from the following
c