London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Paddington 1904
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Paddington, Metropolitan Borough of]
This page requires JavaScript
TO HIS WORSHIP THE MAYOR, THE ALDERMEN, AND COUNCILLORS OF THE
BOROUGH OF PADDINGTON.
Gentlemen,
I beg to submit my Report on the health of the Borough and the work of the Public
Health Department during the past year, this being the eleventh annual report which I have
had the honour to lay before you.
Speaking generally, I think the statistics will be found satisfactory, the sickness and death
rates being low, the latter the lowest on record save that of 1903. On the other hand, the
birth-rate is lower, and the infantile mortality higher, than the respective rates of the previous
year. The birth-rate for last vear is, with the exception of that of 1902, the lowest on
record.
The mean rates for the last five years (1900-04) all show decreases from the means for the five years immediately preceding the date when I took office (1894), as may be seen from the appended statement:—
| Mean Rates for | Births. | Sickness. | Deaths. | Infantile Mortality. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1889—93 | 24.7 | 7.5 | 17.0 | 146 |
| 1900-04 | 22.8 | 5.7 | 14.4 | 136 |
The Council are to be congratulated on the satisfactory results of their labours to improve
the health of the Borough.
The continued decline in the birth-rate is so serious a matter from a national point
of view that I venture to submit a few observations on the question. Taking the Census year
as the central period in each case, the birth-rates for England and Wales for the four 3-year
periods of 1870-72, 1880-82, 1890-92 and 1900-02 have been 35.3, 34.0, 30.7 and 28.6—the
difference between the first and last being 6.7 per 1,000 persons, which implies a deficit of
over 650,000 new lives, during the three years 1900-02.
If the death-rate had decreased by an equal amount such deficiency would be of small
importance. For the four 3-year periods already mentioned the death-rates were 21.1, 18.8,
19'4 and 47.1, the difference between the first and last rate being 4.0 per 1,000 (as compared
with 0.7 for the births) which means a saving of over 400,000 lives during the three years
1900-02.
Balancing the deficit on births against the saving on deaths, there remains a nett deficit
of more than 250,000 lives which would have been added to the nation had the birth-rate