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

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St Pancras 1886

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St. Pancras, Metropolitan Borough]

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St. Pancras, Middlesex.
THIRTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT
of the
MEDICAL OFFICR OF HEALTH,
Eeing the Report for the Year 1886.
TO THE VESTRY OF ST. PANCRAS.
Gentlemen,
As an introduction to the vital and sanitary condition of a district, a concise
topographical account facilitates its comprehension.
St. Pancras extends roughly from the Gate House, Highgate, at the northeastern
corner of the Parish to the junction of Oxford Street and Tottenham Court
Road at the south-western corner, averaging four miles in length and one mile in
width.
For Registration purposes it is divided into six sub-districts. The Kentish Town
sub-district embraces all that portion of the Parish lying north of the Regent's
Canal. The Tottenham Court and Gray's Inn Lane sub-districts occupy that portion
south of the Euston Road, a line through Mabledon Place separating the subdistricts.
The central portion of the Parish, between the Canal and the Euston
Road is divided into three sub-districts. The Regent's Park, west of High Street
and Hampstead Road; the Camden Town, north of Crowndale and Pancras Roads,
and the Somers Town, south of these two roads.
Thus the Registration sub-districts differ widely from the Wards.
A useful sub-division of the Parish falls naturally into Northern, Central, and
Southern, and this is the sub-division adopted for the Sanitary work of your
Inspectors. The Vital Statistics might also conveniently be considered under these
three sub-divisions, but this year the statistics have been, not without labour,
completely calculated separately for each Registration Sub-district in order to
compare the vital and sanitary condition of the sub-districts with one another.
Geologically St. Pancras is situated on the London clay, excepting the Tottenham
Court sub-district which is upon the gravel. The southern end of the Parish
averages 80 feet above high-water mark, at the Canal it rises to 100 feet and at
the northern end to 300 and 400 feet.