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

View report page

London County Council 1894

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]

This page requires JavaScript

population of each sex at certain age periods in the registration district of Whitechapel and in registration London—

1891.All ages.0-5-10-15-20-25-35-45-55-65-75 and upwards.
Whitechapel— Males: Per cent, of total population51.906.495.444.715.105.689.31G.674.462.571.15.32
Females: Per cent, of total population48.106.835.494.795.035.317.807.803.732.271.21.33
London— Males: Per cent, of total population47.275.9.25.364.904.694.617.925.854.112.351.20.37
Females: Per cent, of total population52.735.995.424.995215.5(39.110*494.042.921.72.69

Birth rate, Marriage rate and Death rate.—Mr. Loane gives the corrected birth rate in
Whitechapel during 1893 as 40*9 per 1,000 of population. In London the birth rate was 31. Mr.
Booth, in placing Wliitchapel eleventh in order among registration districts in respect of high birth
rate, was working on the basis of a ten years' average which gave the Whitechapel birth rate as 351.
If the position of Whitechapel were determined by the figures of the last few years the district would
stand higher on the list. The rise in the birth rate may have been influenced by the increase already
referred to in the number of persons living in blocks of dwellings, and may again be associated with
the increase in foreign immigration.
The marriage rate for the year 1893 is 11.8 The percentage of married women under 25 to
total population obtained from the census return is, in the Whitechapel district, exceptionally high
(2.42) ; St. George-in-the-East alone among registration districts has a greater percentage (2.54). Mr.
Booth adopts this as his test of the number of early marriages which he notes " are very numerous in
St. George's East and Whitechapel." Whitechapel stands first in the list of registration districts in
respect of its surplus of unmarried males between 15 and 45 years of age.
The death rates per 1,000 living in 1891-2-3 for the Whitechapel district, when corrected for
deaths occurring in hospitals and outlying institutions, are as follows—
25.3 in 1891, 24.8 in 1892, and 25.6 in 1893,
the death rates for the County of London being—
21.0 in 1891, 20.3 in 1892, and 20.9 in 1893.

If these figures be corrected for age and sex distribution by applying the factors for correction given on page 9 of the annual report of the medical officer of the Council for 1892, the following corrected death rates are obtained—

1891.1892.1893.
Whitechapel27.3126.827.63
London22.3921.622.28

The deaths of infants under one year of age per 1,000 registered births in the Whitechapel district and in London respectively are as follows—

1891.1892.1893.
Whitechapel158155168
London153154163

The zymotic death rates per 1,000 living in Whitechapel and in London during the same years are—

1891.1892.1893.
Whitechapel263.33.1
London202.83.0

London and Whitechapel may be compared in yet another way by taking the mean birth rate and
death rate of the three years 1891-2 and 3 and applying Dr. Bristowe's formula for determining
approximately the expectation of life at birth. It will then be found that while the expectation of life at
birth in London is 39.1 years, that in Whitechapel is only 30.9 years.
Sanitary circumstances.
Water supply.—The greater part of Whitechapel is supplied by the East London Waterworks
Company. Portions of two of the four registration sub-districts are however supplied by the New River
Company. Some difficulty has arisen in connection with the supply of water to the upper floors of
lofty blocks of dwellings, and this difficulty has been attributed to the fact that the East London
Company is only required by enactment to afford a constant supply up to a height of 40 feet above the
level of the payement nearest the point at which such supply shall be required. During the dry
summer of 1893 water was not, at all times of the day, furnished to a greater height than 40 feet, with
result that in the case of buildings in which there was not adequate provision for the storage of water
much inconvenience was caused. In consequence however of the experience of that time, storage cisterns
of adequate capacity were constructed on the roofs of several blocks of dwellings, and during Jul}-, 1894,
sufficient water was held in reserve in many instances to meet the requirements of those living on the
upper floors of such buildings, during the period of the day when the pressure in the company's mains
was not sufficient to carry water above the statutory height. In one block of dwellings, however, the
storage was quite inadequate, with result that the three upper floors were without water during the
greater part of the day, and on the occasions of my visits to this block of dwellings the water-closets on
these upper floors were in consequence in a very offensive condition.