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11
It is interesting to calculate the number of suicides
occurring in Hampstead as compared with London and the country
as a whole:
London: Applying the suicide death rate for London for the
year 1951 to Hampstead, there should have been 12 deaths from
suicide in Hampstead. In fact the Registrar General reported 23.
Country as a whole: Applying the suicide rate for the
country as a whole in 1952 to Hampstead, there should have been
between 10 and 11 suicides in Hampstead in that year. In actual
fact the Registrar General reported 18.
Therefore it seems justifiable to say that Hampstead
does definitely have a higher suicide rate than the average
either in London or the country as a whole. To try and find the
cause of this excess I have been through all the death
certificate returns for Hampstead for the years 1950 - 1953
inclusive and abstracted details of deaths attributed to suicide.
These total figures, shown in Table 2, do not correspond
exactly to the totals published by the Registrar General as after
certification of death the Registrar General makes certain
adjustments for home address etc. so that his numbers tend to
be slightly less than the numbers shown, which include all
suicides occurring in Hampstead.
The sex and age incidence is shown in Table 2, and the
rates per 10,000 are shown diagrammatically in Figure 1. The
month of occurrence is shown in Table 3. June and October have
been the highest months, April and July the lowest, but on the
whole the differences are slight.

The various ways that suicide was carried out are
shown in Table 4. The taking of drugs accounts for 38 per cent.
and coal gas poisoning for a further 34 per cent. The majority
of deaths attributable to taking drugs are due to taking
barbiturates, these accounting for about two-thirds of the
total, and aspirin accounting for about one-quarter.