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135, Bethnal Green Road,
June 20th, 1863.
Rev. Sir and Gentlemen,
Last year was, in point of health, unpropitious
to Bethnal Green. The Pauper Illness and Mortality both
increased; the one from a fatality of 2225 in 1861 to 2537
in 1862, the other from 8442 New Cases of Disease to 8871.
In the first quarter, during which the "temperature of the
air was for a few days together cold and then for a few days
together warm, the degree of salubrity "exceeded the ratio
of the preceding year. The Epidemic Deaths also decreased.
Co-temporaneously the mortality of London was less, but
the epidemic mortality more. The mean temperature (53.3°)
of April, May, and June, slightly surpassed "the average of
the same period in 21 years." Sixty more deaths than in
the like three months of 1861, and an addition of 14 from
Epidemics occurred in Bethnal Green; while correspondingly
a surplus of 457 and 630 happened in London. "The
cold summer was less healthy than the still colder summer
of 1860 it was also less healthy "than the warmer summer
of last year." Our fatality in that time was higher by 143,
that of London by 201. During the last quarter the deaths
of the two increased respectively 174 and 1851. In two of
the weeks "the mean temperature fell nearly as low as 37°.
The mortality was high chiefly in consequence of the sudden
and premature invasion of winter soon after November had
commenced," for "a cold winter makes many funerals; it
cuts off quickly the old and infirm." The minimum mortality
(29) of any one week in Bethnal Green was recorded