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
Holborn 1923
Annual report of the Medical Officer of Health, for the year 1923
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Occupations, etc.
The total number of males over 12 years of age in the Borough is given in the
Census Report as 17,853; of this number 14,728 are stated to be gainfully occupied.
The total number of females over 12 is given as 19,652; of this number 10,333
were described as gainfully occupied.
The following table gives the population in Holborn over 12 years of age in relation to marriage and occupation:—
| Males. | Females. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single. | Married. | Widowed or Divorced. | Single. | Married. | Widowed or Divorced. | |
| Total | 8 708 | 8,297 | 947 | 9,415 | 7,741 | 2,496 |
| Number occupied | 6,643 | 7,296 | 689 | 7,149 | 1,830 | 1,354 |
| Number not occupied | 2,065 | 901 | 159 | 2,266 | 3,911 | 1,142 |
The number of married women occupied away from their homes is equal to
23.7 per cent. of the total number of married women in the Borough. This high
percentage of wives following an occupation is exceeded in London only in the City
of London, where the proportion is 30.6 per cent., and in the Borough of Shoreditch,
24.1 per cent.; Holborn is closely followed by Finsbury with 23.1 per cent.; at
the other end of the scale we have Woolwich with 5.3 per cent., Lewisham 6.1 per
cent., Wandsworth 7.8 per cent., and Stoke Newington 10.2 per cent.
The chief occupations of the day population of the Borough are connected with
professions (Law, Architecture, etc.); Public Societies' and Commercial offices;
Hotels and Boarding Houses; Printing and Bookbinding; Metal Refining; Precious
Stones and general trades and businesses.
The population in the 999 L.C.C. tenements in the Borough was estimated
at 3,525. The number of deaths was 37, a death-rate of 10.1 per 1,000,
considerably below the average death-rate for the whole of the Borough (12.1).
On the other hand the number of deaths of residents of Common Lodging
Houses in the Borough, which contain 1,220 beds was 58 which, calculated on
the number of beds, was a rate of 46. 5 per 1,000.
Registered Births and Birth-Rate.
The total number of births registered as occurring in the Borough was 423,
(216 males and 207 females). Of the 423, 400 were legitimate and 23 illegitimate.
Corrected Births and Birth-Rate.
I received from the Registrar-General information of the births in outlying
institutions in London of 158 legitimate infants and 30 illegitimate infants whose
mothers were residents of the Borough. Sixteen of the births occurring in the
Borough, viz., 11 legitimate births and 5 illegitimate births, were infants of
mothers who were non-residents of the Borough.