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
City of London 1919
Report of the Medical Officer of Health of the City of London for the year 1919
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VACCINATION STATISTICS IN THE CITY OF LONDON.
| Year. | Number of Births notified to Vaccination Officer. | Successfully Vaccinated. | Insusceptible. | Had Small-pox. | Died before Vaccination. | Vaccination postponed. | Cases pending or removed at the end of the year. | Conscientious Objections. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1914 | 464 | 32.3 | Nil. | Nil. | 8.2 | 1.2 | 40. 1 | 18.2 |
| 1915 | 412 | 33.3 | „ | „ | 8.0 | 0.2 | 46.9 | 11.6 |
| 1916 | 415 | 29.6 | 0.20 | „ | 8.2 | 0.5 | 45.6 | 15.9 |
| 1917 | 254 | 39.3 | Nil. | „ | 5.9 | 0.8 | 37. 1 | 16.9 |
| 1918 | 312 | 22.7 | „ | „ | 10.5 | 0.7 | 54. 5 | 11.6 |
| Average previous 5 years | 371 | 31.4 | 0.04 | „ | 8.2 | 0.7 | 44.8 | 14.8 |
| 1919 | 460 | 23.7 | – | „ | 10.0 | 0.7 | 50. 6 | 15.0 |
VACCINATION ACT, 1907.—It will be seen that the number of conscientious
objectors is increasing. This is doubtless due to the Vaccination Act of 1907,
which is a direct encouragement to persons not to take advantage of a means
which it is known reduces the susceptibility of their children to an attack of smallpox.
vital statistics.
The various tables required by the Ministry to be inserted in Annual Reports
are attached herewith, but the value of the statistics, particularly of the birth
and death rates, and perhaps of the incidence of tuberculosis, is not very considerable.
It appears to be the practice of many persons without fixed abode, no
matter to what part of the country they migrate, to claim London as their permanent
place of residence, and in cases of death where such insufficient record
of previous residence is the only information available, the death is debited against
the City statistics.
It is of little use protesting or asking for further information, and to this
extent many deaths and many cases of tuberculosis are assigned to the City which
with more careful investigation would have resulted in some other allocation.
This fact should be borne in mind when a comparison is made between the City
vital statistics and those of other districts.
As a built-on area the City is undoubtedly healthy; it is well scavenged, the
streets are of material which does not easily pulverise, and are impervious, and are
regularly washed; the sewers are undergoing continual improvement; there are no
cess-pools, and the water supply, like that of the rest of London, is satisfactory.
For residential purposes the objections exist that streets in many situations are
narrow, buildings are high, the noise of traffic is distracting, particularly in the early
hours f the morning in districts near the large markets, and the majority of the houses
are old. Caretakers with families suffer the disadvantage that their children have
little room for recreation inasmuch as they occupy a few rooms, generally at the top
of the building. This however, is the common lot of caretakers in anv large centre.
CITY OF LONDON COMPARED WITH THE METROPOLIS FOR THE YEAR 1919 AND THE PREVIOUS FIVE YEARS.
| City ofondon. | Birth Rate. | Death Rate. | Deaths of Children under 1 year to 1,000 Births. | Violent Deaths, per cent.of Deaths Registered. | Deaths from principal Zymotic Disease per 1,000 of the Population. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Estimated Night Population (Imperial Census). | Estimated Day Population (Corporation Census). | City. | Metropolis. | City. | Metropolis. | City. | Metropolis. | City. | Metropolis. | City. | Metropolis. | |
| 1914 | 17,129 | 369,384 | 10.0 | 24.3 | 13.5 | 14.4 | 100 | 104 | 5.7 | 4.2 | 0.53 | 0.21 |
| 1915 | 16,334 | 371,059 | 9.2 | 22.6 | 17.4 | 16.1 | 121 | 112 | 6.0 | 7.3 | 0.62 | 1.58 |
| 1916 | 15,531 | 372,750 | 8.1 | 21.6 | 15.0 | 14.3 | 128 | 89 | 9.9 | 4.0 | 0.13 | 0.94 |
| 1917 | 14,720 | 374,459 | 7.9 | 17.5 | 15.6 | 15.0 | 69 | 103 | 6.2 | 5.9 | 0.24 | 1.02 |
| 1918 | 13,900 | 376,186 | 7.3 | 16.1 | 20.9 | 18.9 | 148 | 107 | 4.2 | 5.6 | 0.50 | 1.31 |
| Average previous 5 years. | 15,523 | 372,767 | 8.5 | 20.4 | 16.5 | 15.7 | 113 | 103 | 6.4 | 5.4 | 0.40 | 1.01 |
| 1919 | 13,893 | 377,931 | 9.6 | 18.3 | 14.4 | 13.4 | 108 | 85 | 10.4 | 5.9 | 0.29 | 2.37 |
From the tables appended it will be noticed that the death rate for 1914 was
14.4 per thousand compared with 13.4 for the metropolis as a whole.