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 1886
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Wandsworth District, The Board of Works (Clapham, Putney, Streatham, Tooting & Wandsworth)]
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The following table exhibits the proportion per cent, of deaths from zymotic diseases as well as of the total deaths in relation to the social position of the deceased:-
| Social Position. | Total Deaths. | Deaths from Zymotic Diseases. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1886. | Decennial Average. | 1886. | Decennial Average. | |
| Nobility and Gentry | 2.77 | 3.50 | 0. 86 | 1.33 |
| Professional Class, Merchants, Bankers, &c. | 4.16 | 4.96 | 4.31 | 4.61 |
| Middle & Trading Classes, Clerks, &c. | 28.81 | 21.35 | 19.83 | 19.61 |
| Industrial and Labouring Classes | 64.26 | 70.19 | 75.00 | 74.45 |
| 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | |
The figures of last year, compared with those of the
year preceding, shew a very considerable reduction in
the relative amount of mortality suffered by the labouring
classes, both as regards the total amount as well as
that portion which occurred from zymotic disease, viz:—
to the extent of 294 percent, of the former and 2.32 per
cent, of the latter. The latter result was scarcely to be
anticipated in presence of a higher general mortality
than usual from those diseases which afflict the labouring
classes with greatest severity.
Infant
Mortality.
The death rate of infants in the past year
was unusually high, the result of a correspondingly
greater prevalence of the zymotic diseases most
obnoxious to infant life. All the deaths from WhoopingCough
and Measles occurred to children under 5 years
of age, and those from Diarrhoea almost exclusively to
infants under 1 year of age. The deaths of infants
under one year formed 48.6 per cent, of all deaths, the
average being 26.7; of children under 5 years, 45.2 per
cent., the average being 42.8 per cent., whereas all deaths
under 20 years of age formed 48.8 per cent., the average
being 50.6 per cent. The proportion of deaths under 1 year