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 1881
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Wandsworth District, The Board of Works (Clapham, Putney, Streatham, Tooting & Wandsworth)]
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The death-rates of the several sub-districts are exhibited in the subjoined table, together with the density of population and the relative number of the industrial to the other classes which each possesses:—
| SUB-DISTRICTS. | Population in the middle of 1881 | Per-centage of Total Population | Deaths | Death-rate per 1000 | * Death-rate per 1000, Excluding Non-Parish-ioners who have Died in Public Institutions. | Density of Population— No. of Persons to Acre | Relative Number of Industrial and Other Classes. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Industrl. Classes | Per Cent. | Other Classes | Per Cent. | |||||||
| Battersea | 108,548 | 51.1 | 2,161 | 19.90 | 18.72 | 46 | 91,268 | 84.0 | 17,280 | 16.0 |
| Clapham | 36,600 | 17.1 | 499 | 13.63 | No appreci-able difference | 30 | 18,043 | 49.2 | 18,557 | 50.8 |
| Putney | 13,312 | 6.3 | 167 | 12.55 | 6 | 6,297 | 47.3 | 7,015 | 52.7 | |
| Streatham | 25,830 | 12.2 | 313 | 12.11 | 7 | 12,543 | 48.5 | 13,287 | 51.5 | |
| Wandsworth | 28,202 | 13.3 | 507 | 17.97 | 17.43 | 11 | 20,859 | 739 | 7,843 | 26.1 |
The difference between the several rates is seen to
be exceedingly great. It is not exceptional as regards
the year 1881, and its cause admits of ready explanation.
In addition to the many conditions which in a greater or
less degree directly or indirectly increase the mortality
of a locality, and which admit of prevention or alleviation
by sanitary operations, there are two important
agents which directly and to a great extent influence its
death-rate in a manner which is not amenable to sanitary
control; these are the density of its population and the
* This correction is necessary in consequence of the undue exaltation of the deathratesof
Battersea and Wandsworth by the mortality of the Union Infirmary in the
former, and of the Surrey County Lunatic Asylum, St. Peter's Hospital, and the
Hospital for Incurables, in the latter sub-district.