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St George (Southwark) 1896

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Southwark, The Vestry of the Parish of St. George the Martyr]

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Annual Report Medical Officer of the of Health—1896. 5
Population.—The number of inhabitants for the whole parish, according to the
Census of 29th March, 1896, was 60,278 as against 59,712 in the Census of 1891. The
rate of increase is extremely low, compared with that of London generally.
Births and Birth=Rate.
Table II. gives the birth.rate per 1,000 per annum for the years 1894, 1895 and
1896 in each sub.district of the parish, in London, and in the thirty.three large
English towns.

TABLE II.

Sub.District.Birth.rate per 1,000.
1894.1895.1896.
Borough Boad37.338.239.4
London Boad37.630.832.6
Kent Boad28.539.637.8
Whole Parish34.436.036.6
London30.130.430.4
33 large English Towns30.931.630.7

It will be seen that the birth.rate is .6 higher than that of the preceding year,
and is considerably above that for the whole of London. The diminished rate of
increase of population in the three sub.districts of the parish of St. George's is, therefore,
not attributable to a falling off in the number of persons born into the parish,
but rather to a relatively high death.rate. A reference to the section on the mortality
of infants and children will reveal the startling fact that in the year 1896 more than
one.half of the total deaths in St. George's, Southwark, has taken place under five
years of age.
The fact is notable that the birth.rate in St. George's is higher than in London
and in the thirty.three large towns. This may, I think, be partly explained by the
fact that limitation of families is carried into effect by the better.to.do classes rather
than by the poor.
* Deaths and Death=Rate for 1896.
1,293 deaths were registered in the parish during the fifty.three weeks ending
2nd January, 1897, giving an average of 24.3 per week. Of this total 215 were deaths
of non.parishioners in hospitals and asylums within the district. In addition 254
parishioners died in outside public institutions and extra.metropolitan asylums. There
were, therefore, 1,332 deaths among your parishioners, equivalent to an average
mortality of 22.9 per 1,000. The death.rate for all London in the same year was 18.2
per 1,000, which is in itself, according to many authorities, 2.2 more per 1.000 than
should occur from " the mortality incident to human nature." In St. George's, then,
the "death.toll," as it has been aptly called, claims 4.7 persons out of every 1,000 in
excess of an already excessive rate. On the latter estimate, that of the whole of
* All calculations in this Report dealing with population statistics are based on the enumeration
taken on the 29th March, 1896; that is, the quinquennial census taken for the purposes of the
Equalisation Act of 1894.