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34
Violent Deaths.
The deaths from violence in 1881 were 200 in number, or
if corrected, 154. There were 23 capes of suicide and 5
of homicide, the latter number being but half as many
as in the previous year. The number of infants suffocated
had also decreased, being only 42 as against 61 in
1880. Fractures and contusions caused 45 deaths, a slight
increase on those of the preceding year.
409 inquests were held in St. Pancras during the year,
being 65 less than in 1880.
Uncertified Deaths.
The uncertified deaths in St. Pancras were 18 in number
in 1881, being in the proportion of .3 in every 100 deaths.
This is in excess of the previous year, when but 11 such
deaths were registered. In London the uncertified deaths
were in the proportion of 1.2 in every 100 deaths.
During the previous year the Vestry had joined in a
Memorial to the Home Secretary, urging the necessity for an
inquiry by a skilled officer in all cases in which the cause of
death had not been certified, and concerning which no inquest
would be held. That such an inquiry is much needed
with a view to preventing crime is obvious enough.
Before leaving this part of my report I would desire to
acknowledge the valuable services rendered to the Sanitary
Department during the year by the District Medical Officers
and the Believing Officers of the Parish. The aid they have
afforded the Department by the promt reporting of cases of
infectious diseases which came to their knowledge, and by the
speedy removal of infectious paupers to the hospitals of the
Metropolitan Asylums Board have been a great assistance in
dealing with cases of this class of disease.
SANITARY CONDITION OF DIFFERENT DISTRICTS.
It is a source of great regret to me that I am not able to
deal as thoroughly with this subject as I could wish. I have
been desirous of obtaining information Of the death-rates in
different parts of our Parish for the purposes of comparison,
but am met with this difficulty, that in the very poorest
localities the sick and dying are frequently removed to Hospitals,
to the Workhouse, or to the Sick Asylums at Cleveland
Street and Highgate, and thus the deaths come to be registered
in districts different from those in which the last illnesses
were contracted.