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
Wandsworth 1872
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Wandsworth District, The Board of Works (Clapham, Putney, Streatham, Tooting & Wandsworth)]
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deaths to population in each of the five Sub-districts, placed respectively in the order of their greatest mortality, and, to facilitate reference and comparison, side by side with the numbers as they stood in the table of the Report for 1871.
| SUB-DISTRICTS. | Estimated Population in the middle of | Deaths. | Ratio of Deaths to Population. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1871. | 1872. | 1871. | 1872. | 1871. | 1872. | |
| Battersea | 54,016 | 58,260 | 1,472 | 1,202 | 1 in 37 | 1 in 481 |
| Wandsworth | 19,783 | 20,703 | 453 | 365 | 1 in 44 | 1 in 57* |
| Clapham | 27,347 | 28,154 | 604 | 482 | 1 in 45 | 1 in 58 |
| Streatham, Tooting, & Balham | 14,475 | 15,027 | 187 | 228 | 1 in 78 | 1 in 66 |
| Putney & Roehampton | 9,485 | 9,807 | 151 | 144 | 1 in 63 | 1 in 63 |
It may occasion some surprise to find that the locality
of Streatham, which has hitherto occupied a very high
position amongst the Sub-districts in respect to its deathrates,
should now be the only one of the five to exhibit an
increase in the number of deaths, and, as a consequence, a
rate per 1,000 much higher than the average of the past
ten years. A greater fatality of Zymotic diseases cannot be
the cause of this increase, since the Streatham register
records exactly the same number of deaths (31) due to the
seven principal Epidemics, as in the table of the preceding
year. It is, then, to the mortality from ordinary diseases
we must look for an explanation of this exceptional and
unexpected circumstance, and accordingly, upon turning
*It should always be borne in mind that there are disturbing
circumstances which unduly exalt the ratio of deaths to population in
some of the Sub-Districts; in those of Battersea and Wandsworth in
particular, including, as they do, within their respective areas the
Workhouse and Infirmary in the one case, and the County Prison and
County Lunatic Asylum in the other. This is more fully explained in
the Local Summaries.