London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Hanover Square 1865
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hanover Square, The Vestry of the Parish of Saint George]
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squares the number of children under 15 is 1 in 8 of the population,
or 13$ per cent. ; in the seven poorer streets it is 1 in 23/4, or
35 per cent.
We now proceed to sum up the deaths from preventible or
partially preventible causes in the whole parish.
So-called Preventible Causes of Death.
| In the year ending April,— | 1860. | 1861. | 1862. | 1863. | 1864. | 1865. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The deaths from zymotic disease | 346 | 291 | 448 | 395 | 393 | 398 |
| „ small-pox | 6 | 8 | 1 | 13 | 41 | 11 |
| „ scarlatina, diphtheria, croup, and other forms of fever with throat disease | 82 | 53 | 82 | 117 | 102 | 96 |
| „ fever | 44 | 39 | 63 | 68 | 68 | 98 |
| „ diarrhæa, dysentery, cholera | 48 | 83 | 53 | 41 | 52 | 69 |
| „ teething, convulsions, consumption, water in the head, mesenteric disease, and scrofula | 395 | 353 | 387 | 342 | 385 | 479 |
The Sickness.
In the Hanover and May-fair Sub-Districts, the total number
of cases treated by the Parochial Medical Officers and at the
Dispensary, Mount-street, and in the Sick-Wards of the Mountstreet
Workhouse, has been 3732; a number under the average,
because the Dispensary was closed for a month for repairs. In
1864 the numbers were 4450 ; in 1863, 3901; in 1862, 3803.
Amongst them were 13 cases of small-pox treated at home,
10 sent to the Small-pox Hospital, and 8 private cases, total 26.
Seven cases of chicken-pox, 11 of measles, 3! of scarlatina, 47 of
whooping-cough, 114 of diarrhoea, 1 of cholera, 85 of fever, 3 of
erysipelas, 569 of bronchitis and catarrh, 16 of diphtheria, 4 of
pleurisy, 5 of pneumonia.
As for the diseases not specified by name in this list, they are
of a low sort, as might be expected amongst the class which
resorts for gratuitous medical aid, as phthisis, indigestion, and the
like. We notice, with regret, the frequent entries of the itch, as
that is really a complaint which ought to be unknown in this
Parish, with its baths and washhouses.
Sickness in the Belgrave Sub-District.
In the Belgrave Sub-District 82,919 persons were treated by
the Parochial Surgeons, and at St. George's Hospital, the Royal
Pimlico Dispensary, the St. Paul and St. Barnabas' Dispensary,
and the Workhouse, Little Chelsea; of these 20,449 were patients
at St. George's Hospital. The whole number includes 45 of
small-pox, 79 of chicken-pox,45 of measles, 188 of scarlet fever,
123 of whooping-cough, 3 of croup, 951 of diarrhoea, 32 of dysentery,
231 of continued fever, 135 of rheumatic fever, 93 of erysipelas,
36 of diphtheria. 14 of cholera, 2 of ague, and 10 of carbuncle.