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
London County Council 1895
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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Since the year 1870, the London death rate has been as follows —
| 1871 | 24.6 | 1878 | 23.1 | 1885 | 20.4 | 1892 | 20.32 |
| 1872 | 21.5 | 1879 | 22.6 | 1886 | 20.6 | 1893 | 21.02 |
| 1873 | 22.4 | 1880 | 21.7 | 1887 | 20.3 | 1894 | 17.42 |
| 1874 | 22.4 | 1881 | 21.3 | 1888 | 19.3 | 1895 | 19.52 |
| 1875 | 23.6 | 1882 | 21.5 | 1889 | 18.4 | ||
| 1876 | 21.9 | 1883 | 20.8 | 1890 | 21.4 | ||
| 1877 | 21.6 | 1884 | 20.9 | 1891 | 21.02 |
The death rate in each year sincc 1841 in relation to the mean of the period 1841-95 is shown
in diagram III. It will be observed that the death rate in 1895, while higher than that of 1894, was
lower than the death rate of any of the four years antecedent to 1894. The year 1895 was characterized
by a temperature in January and February below the average of the 124 preceding years, and in the
summer months above the average. Influenza and bronchitis were more fatal in 1895 than in the
previous year, although the deaths were below the average of the ten years antecedent to 1895.
Again, diarrhoea, a disease largely dependent on a high summer temperature, was in 1895 more than
twice as fatal as in 1894, and slightly exceeded the average of the ten years preceding 1895.
The following table has been prepared for the purpose of comparing the death rate of the
registration county of London with that of other English towns having populations which exceeded
200,000 persons at the census of 1891. The columns showing " death rates corrected for age and sex
distribution" have been obtained by multiplying the crude death rates by the "factor for correction"
published by the Registrar-General in the annual summary for 1895.
| Town. | Estimated population, middle of 1395. | Crude death rate per 1,000 living. | Death rate per 1,000 living (corrected for age and sex distribution). | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1885-94. | 1895. | 1885-94. | 1895. | ||
| London | 4,331.119 | 20.1 | 19.91 | 21.4 | 21.2 |
| Manchester | 524,865 | 25.7 | 25.2 | 29.1 | 28.6 |
| Liverpool | 503,967 | 25.7 | 28.8 | 28.5 | 32.0 |
| Birmingham | 496,751 | 20.6 | 20.3 | 22.8 | 22.4 |
| Leeds | 395,546 | 21.1 | 20.5 | 23.4 | 22.7 |
| Sheffield | 342,768 | 21.7 | 20.5 | 24.1 | 22.8 |
| West Ham | 249,473 | 18.8 | 17.9 | 20.3 | 19.3 |
| Bristol | 228,139 | 19.4 | 18.1 | 20.3 | 18.9 |
| Nottingham | 226,658 | 19.7 | 19.0 | 21.2 | 20.4 |
| Bradford | 226,384 | 20.2 | 19.9 | 23.1 | 22.8 |
| Hull | 216,722 | 19.8 | 20.8 | 20.8 | 21.8 |
| Salford | 208,253 | 24.6 | 25.6 | 27.7 | 28.8 |
London had, therefore, comparing the corrected death rates in 1895 a lower death rate than that
of any of these towns except West Ham, Bristol, Bradford and Nottingham, and in the period 1885-94
a lower death rate than that of any of these towns except West Ham, Bristol, Nottingham and Hull.
The following table enables comparison to be made of the death rate of London with that of several foreign cities—
| Town. | Death rate per 1,000 living. | Town. | Death rate per 1,000 liring. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1885-94. | 1895. | 1885-94. | 1895. | ||
| London | 20.1 | 19.91 | St. Petersburg | 29.7 | 28.8 |
| Paris | 22.8 | 21.3 | Berlin | 21.5 | 19.4 |
| Brussels | 20.8 | 19.8 | Vienna | 24.7 | 23.1 |
| Amsterdam | 21.4 | 17.4 | Rome | 23.9 | 20.6 |
| Copenhagen | 21.3 | 18.5 | New York | 24.9 | 23.3 |
| Stockholm | 20.5 | 17.0 | |||
It will be seen that whereas in 1885-94 the death rate of London was lower than that of any
of these cities, in 1895 it exceeded the death rates of Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Berlin, and
Brussels.
In 1885 the Registrar-General began to distribute the deaths from all causes and from certain
zymotic diseases, occurring in institutions, to the sanitary districts to which they belong, and death
rates of sanitary districts corrected in this sense can therefore be obtained for each of the years
1885-95. For the purpose of a more precise statement, it is necessary to have regard to the age and
1 See footnote (1), page 10.
2 See footnote (2), page 10.
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