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

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Bermondsey 1915

Report on the sanitary condition of the Borough of Bermondsey for the year 1915

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12
Deaths.
In Table IV. of Appendix will be found the Local Government
Board tables dealing with deaths in the Borough. The extended
table of causes of death initiated in 1904 will also be found in the
Appendix.
The total number of deaths registered in the Borough for the
year ended December 31st, 1915, was 2,053, which is 359 more than
in 1914, and 168 less than the average for the last 10 years.
When this figure is corrected by exclusion of deaths of nonparishioners
occurring in the district, and the inclusion of deaths of
parishioners occurring outside the district, the number is raised to
2,514. This is 330 more than in 1914, and 195 more than the
average for the last 10 years.
The annexed table shows the distribution of deaths in quarters,
together with the corresponding quarters of 1914. The largest
number of deaths occurred in the first quarter of the year.

TABLE B.—DEATHS.

Quarter.Bermondsey.Rotherhithe.St. Olave.Whole Borough.
1914.1915.1914.1915.1914.1915.1914.1915.
First3715501631933859572802
Second3674221141465046531614
Third3642941441564942557492
Fourth3553991331473660524606
Total Deaths1,4571,6655546421732072,1842,514

The death-rate for the Borough in 1915 was 21·4 per thousand
living inhabitants, being 3-8 above that recorded in 1914, and 3·1
above the average for the last 10 years. This increase in the deathrate
is partly real and partly apparent. As shown in an early
section (vide page 8) the civil population was estimated by the Registrar
-General as 117,000, against the normal population of 124,000,
and as the military population consisted of healthy males whose
mortality is very low, the increase of the rate from a statistical