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

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Wandsworth 1869

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Wandsworth District, The Board of Works (Clapham, Putney, Streatham, Tooting & Wandsworth)]

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very old persons referred to as having died at the respective
ages of 103 and 104, the former (a female) was an
inhabitant of Battersea, the latter (also a female) resided
in the Streatham Sub-district.
Social Positions of the deceased Persons.—Little need
be said respecting that portion of the Mortality Table
devoted to the record of social position, since the last four
columns of the form employed sufficiently indicate the
relative proportions of deaths amongst the various classes
of the community. It may be observed, however, that of
the several sections mentioned, those comprehended in the
fourth column, died during the past year in by far the
greatest numbers; but it is satisfactory to find that the
proportion of deaths amongst the indigent to the deaths
amongst the other three classes collectively, was not so
great on the side of the former as was the case years ago
when systematic and well directed sanitation had scarcely
been thought of as a means of controlling the sickness and
of lessening the mortality of the inhabitants.
Sickness and, Mortality amongst the Union Poor.—
Table V. Appendix, possesses much interest, especially
when viewed as a measure of the sickness and its resulting
mortality, occurring generally amongst all classes. The
number of cases treated by the Union Medical Officers
was 5,674. The number of resulting deaths to cases
treated is 237, or rather more than 4 per cent. This rate
of mortality, considered in relation to the social position of
the patients, is by no means high, but it is, however, considerably
higher than that of previous years.
SANITATION.
Drainage.—In the last Report it was stated that a
length of new sewers to the extent of 50,139 feet had,
during the year 1868, been constructed within the area
of this extensive District, and at that time the main
culverts occupied a space that was equivalent in length to
very little short of 100 miles. This great and enduring
work, it will be seen (vide Table VI. Appendix), was