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Causes of
death
The death rate for all causes has been worked out earlier and in the light of the
foregoing explanation we can look at the different causes.
In 1657 the biggest killer was clearly tuberculosis (tisick) followed by infant deaths
(unspecified), ague and fever, teeth and worms, old age, flux and smallpox, convulsions
and cramp, though the high number of abortive and still-born infants should not be
overlooked.
In 1757 convulsions is the leading cause with consumption second, closely followed
by smallpox, fever, with old age lagging far behind. Convulsions probably include both
the 'convulsions' and the 'chrisoms and infants' of 1657 so that if these were separated,
tuberculosis would again come first. It is interesting to note that about one-third of the
deaths occurred to children under two years of age.
The Bill of Mortality for 1757 does not differ a great deal from that for 1657, but
by 1857 there had been a radical change both in nomenclature and numbers. Tubercular
diseases still remain the leading cause of death and children under two still account
for about one-third of all deaths. The arrangement of the causes is on more modern
lines. Infectious diseases were an important group and since 1757 the deaths from
measles and whooping cough had risen considerably ; scarlatina does not seem to have
been recorded in 1757 whereas smallpox, which was so important in the 18th century,
made an almost nominal appearance in 1857—in fact it was the lowest total since 1666.
A special chapter was devoted to Health in London in the Registrar General's
Annual Reports of those days so that it is possible to learn a great deal about the state of
health of the people, e.g., 'If we place together the deaths from smallpox, measles,
scarlatina, whooping cough, diarrhoea, and typhus and divide by the corrected population,
it is found that the mortality from these diseases was at the rate of about 41 to every
10,000 living in London ' Childbirth is much more fatal than it should be; but much
less fatal than it wasDeaths from childbirth and puerperal fever amounted to 365. It is
recorded that only 11 women died in Lying-in Hospitals. Nearly a sixth of the deaths
took place in public institutions of London, and about half of these in the workhouses.
(It is also recorded that the wind passed over London at the rate of 81 miles a day.
Abortions and Stillbirths were included in 1757 but later omitted and only the latter
was put back in 1926.)
This was the period when the importance of vital statistics really began to be
appreciated and, if reference is made to the weekly returns, some very curious facts
can be ascertained. There were 60 cats-meat purveyors residing in London at the time,
and one of them died during the year; out of 552 physicians 16 died, as did six medical
students. Another detail was the fact that in the first week of the year ' a man who had
been a butler, was the oldest, and died at the age of 94 years'. Deaths from all causes
have been recorded on every day of the week with the mean temperature. The Victorians
appear to have considered that weather was an important factor in the number of deaths
—perhaps they were right ! It is recorded that Christmas Day 1857 was ' particularly
cloudy till evening, clear afterwards—a remarkably fine day—with a maximum temperature
of 53 degrees
The reports had claims to literary style and were not written in official jargonese.
Below is a quotation from the third quarterly report for that year.
If the mortality in the towns had been at the same rate as the mortality in the other districts,
the deaths, instead of amounting to 55,755, would have only amounted to 38,080.
Thus in 92 days 17,653 persons perished untimely in England. What was the cause of this
great destruction of life ? Evidently the violation of the plain natural laws of life. And the strict
observance of these laws must be of the utmost importance to the welfare of the human race,
otherwise their violation would not be so terribly punished by the Almighty. Indeed, if the
English race could lose strength, beauty, health, and life in the impurities of its dwelling-places
with impunity, the imagination of Swift alone could conceive—his pencil depict—the depth of
degradation to which the nation might fall.
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