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59
Annual Report of the Medical Officer of Health—1896.
Voluntary Roman Catholic School; on the east by the row of houses lining the
Borough High Street; and on the north and south by warehouses. In addition, Messrs.
Smith's Medicated Lozenge Manufactory, the Midland Railway Receiving Depot, and
sundry warehouses stand between the parallel courts and alleys comprised in the unhealthy
area. This arrangement—an obstructive one—taken in conjunction with an
existing faulty construction and grouping of houses in the area in question, prevents a
due admission of light and air. The dwellings themselves in many cases have no
means of obtaining a through ventilation, and in those instances where a back-yard is
present such yard is usually narrow and insufficient for purposes of ventilation.
The cellars—especially of the back-to-back houses in the Falcon Court—often
contain the W.C.'s, ash-pails, and other sanitary conveniences. They also serve as
kitchens, and are generally used for the washing and drying of clothes, as well as for
other purposes.
The occupied houses of the Falcon Court area cover together 1 acre 30 poles—
that is to say—rather under 1¼ acres, and upon that space 821 human beings are concentrated.
The population density for the whole parish of St. George the Martyr is
211 to an acre as against 58 for London.
Eighty-nine deaths of inhabitants of the Falcon Area are known to have occurred
during the four years 1892-3-4 and 5 which figures gave an average death-rate of 29.5
per 1,000. The (corrected) death-rates for 1892-3-4 and 5 are 24.6 for the whole
parish, and 19.5 for London. It is but fair to remark, however, that the only address
given of parishioners who died in the St. Saviour's Union Workhouse at Dulwich, is
the vague general one of "St. George's, Southwark." This fact may tell either for or
against the actual mortality return of the Falcon Area. It seems more likely that a
large proportion of those who die at Dulwich Workhouse, come from the Falcon Area
for the following reasons:—
(1) The poverty and general character of its residents;
(2) The presence of three common lodging-houses, having 128 male and
female lodgers; and
(3) The probability of such a class of resident drifting into the Union
house.
If then, a large proportion of the Workhouse deaths is to be attributed to the
Falcon Court, it is evident that the death-rate of 29.5 per 1,000 does not represent the
facts of the case.
The average death-rate from the seven chief zymotic or preventable diseases, for
the years 1892-3-4 and 5 is 4T per 1,000, as against 3.2 per 1,000 in the whole Parish,
and 2.7 per 1,000 in London, for the same period.
The average deaths under one year of age to every 1,000 births for the years
1892-3-4 and 5 number 407 in the Falcon Area, as compared with 206 in the whole
Parish, and 163 in London for the same time.
The average percentage of deaths in the Falcon area which occurred under five years
of age to the total number of deaths for the years 1892-3-4 and 5 is 67. This compares
with the high figure of 49.7 for the whole Parish, and 35.7 for London, for the same
period. In other words, of every 100 deaths which took place in the Falcon area 67
were those of children under the age of five years.
These figures point, also, to the fact that the percentage of deaths under five year8
of age to the total number of deaths from the Falcon area was almost double that for
the whole of London.
The three tables herewith appended give particulars of the mortality from the
chief diseases at three age periods.