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 1907
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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Bradford and Newcastle.on.Tyne, and in 1907 was lower than that of any except Bristol, Bradford,
Newcastle.on.Tyne, and Leicester:—
Diarrhœa—Death.rates per 1,000 persons living.
| Town. | 1897.1906. | 1907. | Town. | 1897.1906. | 1907. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | 0.851 | 0.321 | West Ham | 1.55 | 0.66 |
| Liverpool | 1.61 | 0.73 | Bradford | 0.79 | 0.17 |
| Manchester | 1.42 | 050 | Newcastle.on.Tyne | 0.78 | 0.14 |
| Birmingham | 1.38 | 0.43 | Hull | 1.57 | 0.37 |
| Leeds | 1.04 | 0.38 | Nottingham | 1.25 | 0.63 |
| Sheffield | 1.53 | 0.99 | Salford | 1.57 | 0.44 |
| Bristol | 0.60 | 0.32 | Leicester | 1.22 | 0.31 |
The deaths and death-rates from diarrhoea for the year 1907, and the death-rates for the period
1902.6 in each of the sanitary areas of London, are shown in the following table :—
Diarrhœa—Death.rates in sanitary areas:
| Sanitary area. | Deaths, 1907 (52 weeks). | Death.rate per 1,000 persons living. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1902.6. | 1907. | ||
| Paddington | 42 | 0.65 | 0.28 |
| Kensington | 38 | 0.63 | 0.21 |
| Hammersmith | 21 | 0.83 | 0.17 |
| Fulham | 83 | 1.26 | 0.50 |
| Chelsea | 29 | 0.54 | 0.39 |
| Westminster, City of | 41 | 0.35 | 0.24 |
| St. Marylebone | 24 | 0.56 | 0.19 |
| Hampstead | 8 | 0.18 | 0.09 |
| St. Pancras | 49 | 0.54 | 0.21 |
| Islington | 102 | 0.50 | 0.29 |
| Stoke Newington | 8 | 0.46 | 0.15 |
| Hackney | 80 | 0.78 | 0.34 |
| Holborn | 16 | 0.52 | 0.29 |
| Finsbury | 40 | 0.98 | 0.41 |
| London, City of | 1 | 0.23 | 0.05 |
| Shoreditch | 74 | 1.37 | 0.64 |
| Bethnal Green | 57 | 0.95 | 0.44 |
| Stepney | 153 | 1.15 | 0.50 |
| Poplar | 78 | 1.24 | 0.46 |
| South wark | 101 | 101 | 048 |
| Bermondsey | 48 | 1.10 | 0.38 |
| Lambeth | 92 | 0.76 | 0.29 |
| Battersea | 45 | 0.78 | 0.25 |
| Wandsworth | 74 | 0.64 | 0.26 |
| Camberwell | 72 | 0.69 | 0.26 |
| Deptford | 34 | 0.85 | 0.29 |
| Greenwich | 37 | 0.74 | 0.35 |
| Lewisham | 29 | 0.57 | 0.19 |
| Woolwich | 34 | 0.72 | 0.26 |
| London | 1,510 | 0.77 | 0.321 |
It will be seen from the foregoing table that the diarrhoea death-rate was in the period 1902.6
highest in Shoreditch (1.37), and lowest in Hampstead (0.18); in the year 1907, Shoreditch (0.64) had
again the highest death.rate, the lowest obtaining in the City of London (0.05). The diarrhoea death.
rates in London in each of the four quarters of the year 1907, were as follows : first quarter, 0.16 ;
second quarter, 016 ; third quarter, 0.46 ; and fourth quarter, 0.49, per 1,000 persons living.
The report of Dr. Davies, the medical officer of health of Woolwich, contains some interesting
observations on the low diarrhoeal mortality of that district in 1907. During the summer quarters of
the years 1905.6.7 a system of notification of zymotic enteritis and visitation of the homes of the
patients by a female sanitary inspector has been in force in Woolwich. He compares the Woolwich
death-.rate of that quarter in the period 1901.4 with that of the corresponding quarter of 1905-7,
and finds that in the first period it was 2.30 per 1,000 living, and in the second period, 1.53 per
1,000 living, i.e., it has declined 34 per cent. In London, as a whole, the diarrhoea mortality of the
two periods has been 2.27 and 1.91, showing a decline of 16 per cent. The Woolwich figures are
undoubtedly small for the purpose of safe inference and the natural lluctuations of diarrhœal
mortality in different localities have to be considered, but the results so far as they go are encouraging.
1 See footnote (1), page 8.