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
City of Westminster 1904
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Westminster, City of]
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A comparison of the corrected and uncorrected birth-rates, and of the death-rates of infants under one year of age, is made in the following table:—
| Births. | Birth-rate. | Deaths, under 1, per 1,000 births. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uncorrected. | Corrected. | Uncorrected. | Corrected. | Uncorrected. | Corrected. | |
| St. George | 1,183 | 1,201 | 15.6 | 15.9 | 117 | 115 |
| St. Margaret and St. John | 985 | 1,070 | 18.9 | 20.6 | 152 | 140 |
| St. James | 284 | 311 | 14.4 | 15.7 | 95 | 86 |
| St. Anne | 205 | 232 | 18.3 | 20.7 | 78 | 69 |
| Strand | 240 | 240 | 12.1 | 12.1 | 116 | 116 |
| The City | 2,897 | 3,054 | 16.3 | 17.2 | 124 | 118 |
The number of married women between the ages of 15 and 45
is estimated to be 18,620, and the unmarried and widows at the same
age-period 39,710.
Illegitimate births (net) were 186 in 1902 (5.7 per cent. of the
total births), 150 in 1903 (4.7 per cent.), and 134 in 1904 (4.3 per
cent.). In the County the proportion was 3.8 per cent., which was
about the average of the previous ten years.
Calculating legitimate births per 1,000 married women between the ages of 15 and 45, and the illegitimate per 1,000 unmarried and widows at the same ages, we get the following figures:—
| 1902. | 1903. | 1904. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Westminster— | ||||
| Legitimate | 174 | 156 | 164 | Per 1,000 married. |
| Illegitimate | 4.6 | 3.4 | 3.8 | Per 1,000 unmarried. |
| County of London—1900-02. | ||||
| Legitimate | 2276 | 223.7 | 218.9 | Per 1,000 married. |
| Illegitimate | 6.9 | 7.0 | Per 1,000 unmarried. | |
1,562 of the children were boys, 1,492 girls.
The births are arranged according to the old divisions of the City in
Table III., and the comparative rates are shown in Table IV. These are
uncorrected for births outside the City. The corrected rates for wards
are shown in Table VI.
In 1870-72 the London rates were 269.9 and 10.3; in 1880-82,
272.6 and 9.8; and in 1890-02, 250.1 and 8.l, so that there has been a
progressive decline in both classes.