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 1912
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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106
Annual Report of the London County Council, 1912.
The organised efforts of some of the supporters of the women's suffrage movement to escape
enumeration in 1911 may have been to some extent successful, but it is believed that the accuracy of
the Census was not greatly affected.
It is evident from the above figures, however, that changes in the age-constitution of the
London population greater than can be accounted for by any of the causes referred to have taken
place in recent years, and these changes are undoubtedly due mainly to the marked outward movement
of the population, over the county boundary, and, so far as the earlier ages are concerned, to the
diminution in the birth-rate since the eighties. The subject of this outward movement is dealt with
in the report of the Medical Officer of Health of London for 1910, p. 8, where an estimate of the total
loss to the Countv during the decennium resulting therefrom is shown.
Data upon
which the
life-table is
based.
It will be seen on reference to the first life-table that fully corrected (a) deaths for London were
not available before 1897, and consequently the deaths belonging to London for the period 1891-1900
could only be arrived at by an estimate based upon the ascertained effect of correction during the last four
years of that decennium. The present life-table is, however, calculated upon fully corrected deaths,
which are available for the whole period 1901-1910. With the corrections thus made, the data are as
complete as at present possible; circumstances, however, for which no adjustment can satisfactorily
be made, afEect the correctness of the figures, and these deserve to be mentioned. Thus, patients
coming to London for treatment in hospitals or homes may, previous to admission, take temporary
residence within the County, and in case of subsequent death they will in many cases have been regarded
as London residents: similarly, London residents who became inmates of hospitals, homes, etc., in other
parts of the County and died away from London, may not necessarily have been allocated to the
London population. These circumstances, however, tell in opposite directions, and it may reasonably
be assumed that the net result of correction for them, were it possible, would not seriously affect the
accuracy of the life-table.
The deaths having been corrected for institutional deaths in the manner described above, it became
necessary to make a corresponding correction in the population by addition to, or deduction from, the
census population, of the total inmates of the various institutions. Obviously, this correction can only
be partial, as it is not possible to say what number of patients in London hospitals are not London
residents.
The total effect of the corrections thus made is shown in the following table :—
| Agegroup. | Net addition to estimated intercensal population (10 years). | Addition to ( + ) or deduction from ( -) deaths registered in London. | Difference per cent. in group mortality-rates resulting from correction. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0— | 2,758 | —2,356 | —1.9 |
| 5— | 2,877 | — 314 | —4.2 |
| 10— | 2,654 | — 268 | —6.6 |
| 15— | 4,336 | — 346 | —5.6 |
| 20— | 6,600 | — 367 | —4.5 |
| 25— | 19,480 | — 602 | —3.4 |
| 35— | 23,692 | — 140 | —1.2 |
| 45— | 23,308 | — 489 | —2.3 |
| 55— | 20,112 | — 317 | —2.3 |
| 65— | 12,960 | + 419 | —1.1 |
| 75 + | 3,722 | + 348 | —0.7 |
| All ages | 122,499 | —4,432 | —1.8 |
| 0— | 2,738 | —1,527 | —1.5 |
| 5— | 2,833 | — 267 | —3.3 |
| 10— | 2,005 | — 190 | —4.2 |
| 15— | 3,367 | — 230 | —4.4 |
| 10— | 5,898 | — 229 | —3.5 |
| 25— | 18,869 | — 283 | —2.1 |
| 35— | 26,535 | — 78 | —1.1 |
| 45— | 28,954 | + 122 | —0.9 |
| 55— | 25,351 | + 444 | —0.5 |
| 65— | 16,741 | + 1,123 | +0.5 |
| 75 + | 6,380 | + 999 | +0.3 |
| All ages | 139,671 | — 116 | —0.6 |
(a) The correction referred to consists in the allocation to London of deaths of London residents occurring in
the chief London institutions situated without the County (namely, the asylums of the County and City of London,
and the hospitals and asylums of the Metropolitan Asylums Board, together with certain workhouse establishments,
The Middlesex County Asylum is situated within the County of London, and deaths among its inmates have, therefore,
been deducted), and the exclusion of deaths of persons in the principal London institutions who, prior to their
admission, were not resident within the County.