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

View report page

Kensington 1907

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington Borough]

This page requires JavaScript

30
Other 26 deaths occurred without the borough; viz., one of a female, in the Grand
Junction Canal; one of a male in Hyde Park; one of a male at Westbourne Park Station ; three
of males and two of females in the street; and ten of males, and eight of females on private
premises.
Deaths from diseases of the zymotic class occurred at public institutions without the borough
as follows:—Western Hospital 23 (diphtheria 15, scarlet fever 6, enteric fever 2); Grove Hospital 4
{scarlet fever 2, diphtheria 2); Northern Hospital 1 (scarlet fever); St. Mary's Hospital 3 (diphtheria 2,
enteric fever 1); West London Hospital 1 (measles); Victoria Hospital for Children 1 (whoopingcough);
Children's Hospital, Great Ormonde Street 1 (diarrhcea); and Hanwell Asylum 1 (diarrhoea).
UNCERTIFIED DEATHS.
There were three deaths in the borough that were not "certified," either by a registered
medical practitioner or by a coroner. The causes of death were disease of the heart, premature
birth, and cancer respectively. In England and Wales the deaths not certified were 1.4 per cent,
of total deaths; the proportion in London was 0T, the same as in Kensington.
The subject of uncertified deaths was considered, in the Session of 1893, by a Select Committee
of the House of Commons, appointed " to inquire into the sufficiency of the existing law
as to the disposal of the dead, for securing an accurate record of the causes of death in all cases,
and especially for detecting them when death may have been due to poison, violence, or criminal
neglect." The recommendations of the Committee were summed up in ten paragraphs, of which
ihe first two were as follows : —
" (1) That in no case should a death be registered without production of a certificate of the
cause of death, signed by a registered medical practitioner, or by a coroner after inquest.
" (2) That in each sanitary district a registered medical practitioner should be appointed as
public medical certifier of the cause of death in cases in which a certificate from a medical
practitioner in attendance is not forthcoming."
No action has been taken, so far, to give effect to the recommendations.
INQUESTS.
Two hundred and two inquests were held on parishioners, including 46 at places without
the borough, mostly at public institutions to which the deceased persons had been removed
for treatment. The cause of death is stated to have been ascertained by post mortem examination
in 128 cases. Forty-two inquests were held on the bodies of non-parishioners who had died in
Kensington. All of the inquests in the borough were held at the coroner's court at the Town Hall

The causes of death may be classified as follows: —

Deaths caused by disease99
Deaths caused by violence (103), viz.;— Accidental88
Suicidal15
—108
Total ...202

The inquests on Kensington parishioners were in the proportion of 8'2 per cent, on total
deaths, the rate in the Metropolis being 9"8 percent.; in England and Wales the rate was 6*9 per
cent. The relative percentages in 1906 were 8*4, 10T and 6*8, respectively.
The deaths from violence (103) were equal to 0'57 per 1,000 of the population in Kensington
; the corresponding rates were 0*55 per 1,000 in London, as a whole, and 0'56per 1,000 in England
and Wales.
NOTIFICATION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASE.
The tables at pp. 31-35 show (1) the number of notifications of all the scheduled diseases in
London in the 18 years, 1890-1907; (2) the ages at notification in 1907, (3) the cases notified in the
several Metropolitan boroughs, (4) the relative prevalence of the several diseases at different periods
of the year, in Kensington and in London, (5) the notifications in Kensington, and in the several
divisions thereof, in 1907, and (6) the notifications, gross and proportional numbers, and percentages
of removals to hospital, in Kensington, in the years 1897-1907 inclusive. The Kensington notifications
in 1907 were 930; 756 in the Town sub-district, and 174 in Brompton. The cases notified in
London were 41,038.
The Public Health Committee of the London County Council reported at the meeting held
on the 26th February, that it was advisable that, for a period of six months, cerebrospinal meningitis
^popularly known as Spotted Fever) should be made compulsorily notifiable within the
Administrative County; and they submitted for adoption an order under Section 56 of the Public
Health (London) Act, 1891, requiring such notification. The order was adopted, and having been
approved by the Local Government Board, it came into force on the 12th March. The Order ana
excerpts from a memorandum on cerebro-spinal fever by the Medical Officer of the Board (July,