London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Islington 1866

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Islington, Parish of St Mary]

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TO THE VESTRY OF
SAINT MARY, ISLINGTON.
Gentlemen,
The year 1866 has been characterised by the epidemic visitation of the
Metropolis with Cholera, which had approached very near to it in 1865. A great
part of this Report will necessarily be occupied with the history of the epidemic as
it affected us in Islington. In order to avoid, therefore, undue extension, I shall
abridge, as much as possible, the remarks which I have to make upon the general
mortality and sickness of the district under your charge.
MORTALITY, DEATH-RATE, and SICKNESS.
The number of deaths of residents registered in Islington, (omitting those of
persons from other districts, taking place in Hospitals, and also those occurring in the
Clerkenwell Infant Poor House), amounted, during the fifty-two weeks ending
December 29th, to 4172. Adding to these 252 deaths, our share (proportionally to
our population) of the deaths taking place in the Hospitals, &c.,in London, we arrive
at a corrected mortality of 4424 persons. I estimate our population in the middle
of the year as numbering 190,992 persons; that is, as augmented by an addition of
5 per cent. upon the population of 1865. Our corrected mortality for 1865 was 4035.
Hence we had, in 1866, 389 more deaths than in the previous year. In London
generally, the death-rate of 1866 was 264.7 per 10,000 of the population : our deathrate
in Islington was 231.6 per 10,000.

The following table shows the births which have taken place in the parish during 1866

1866West.East.Total.
1st Quarter8749241798
2nd Quarter8738401713
3rd Quarter8248231647
4th Quarter8658851750
Total343634726908

The births which took place thus exceeded the deaths by 2873.