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
Battersea 1911
[Report on the health of the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea for the year 1911]
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Occupation of parents :—
Father,—Labourers, 98 ; Artisans, 32 ; Trades and Clerks.
35 ; other, 3 ; not stated, 21.
Mother,—Home, 124 ; Domestic servants, 10 ; Trades, &c.,
9 ; Factory hands and Charing, 30; other, 2; not
stated, 14.
No. of Rooms occupied by family of deceased.
| No. of rooms. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Not stated. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Families | 22 | 38 | 71 | 36 | 13 | 4 | 1 | — | — | 1 | 3 |
Light and ventilation of dwellings.—Bad, 2 ; Fair, 80 ; Good,
104 ; not stated, 3.
Condition of Yard,—Unpaved, 2 ; partly paved, 37 ; wholly
paved, 138 ; not stated, 12.
Feeding,—Breast, 20 ; breast and other, 59 ; cows' milk, 37 ;
condensed milk, 41 ; other food, 24 ; not stated, 8.
No. of children living in family of deceased.
| No. living. | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Not stated. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Families | 46 | 40 | 27 | 29 | 19 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
The conclusions to be drawn from an examination of the above
summary are that («) the disease is mainly confined to the poorer
quarters of the Borough ; Nine Elms, Church and Winstanley
Wards, between them contributing 122 of the 189 fatal cases and
45 of the 93 recovered cases investigated ; (b) that only a small
proportion of the children were breast fed; (c) the Sanitary
conditions of the homes having regard to the class of dwelling,
were generally speaking satisfactory. In the three upper Wards
of the Borough (St. John, Bolingbroke and Broomwood) there
were only 8 deaths from summer diarrhoea, which is in striking
contrast to the three first mentioned wards, where the conditions
as regards the standard of living prevailing, are very different.