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FIFTY YEARS AGO.
FOREWORD.
7
The object of the Ministry of Health being to obtain full reports from Medical
Officers of Health at intervals of five years, with skeleton reports merely for
each of the intervening years, it is conceivable that they may not regard this note
with favour. There is in it, however, so much that is likely to be interesting to the
members of the Council and, possibly, some of the ratepayers, that I venture to
introduce it. It contains a brief survey of health conditions as they existed in the
Borough in the year 1871, the information being derived from certain old annual
reports that came to light in the course of turning over papers prior to moving into
the new Town Hall. For the purposes of comparison, wherever statistics are quoted,
corresponding figures for 1921, if available, are shown in italics and within brackets.
In (he year 1871 Dr. John Whitmorewas"Medical Officer of Health and Chemical
Examiner of Gas,"and impressed, like myself, with the necessity of sometimes
looking back, in making his annual report for the year, he glanced at the figures for
1801 to see how matters then stood, particularly as regards population. In that year,
he found, there lived in the parish 63,982 persons, which was some 100,000 less than
in 1861, when Robert Dundas Thomson, M.D., F.R.S., was Medical Officer of
Health, the population having risen by an average annual increase of about 1,600 to
161,680. In the decade that followed there was a falling off in ihe number of
inhabitants of about 240 annually, till in 1871 the population was 159,254 (105,200).
Special attention is drawn to the great preponderance of females over males, the
census of 1871 showing an excess of over 20,000 (22,108). Half a century ago the
inhabited houses in the district numbered 16,340 (17,345), uninhabited premises 837
(5J6),andthe gross valuation of rateable property amounted \.o£ 1,393,701 (£3,008,246),
as compared with ^"5 09,244 in 1815; 5,183 (1,939) births took place in the year
under review, giving a rate of 32'50 per 1,000 (18'42). Deaths numbered 3,848
(1,355), equal to 24T6 per 1,000 (12'87). The annual death rate of Christ Church
District, for many years as high as 32 per 1,000, had fallen to 26 per 1,000 (14'0).
Commenting on the infantile mortality rate of 173 per 1,000 births (66'0), the Medical
Officer of Health points to the"melancholy fact that out of every 100 children born
in St. Marylebone about 37 (9) die in the first five years of their existence, no
inconsiderable number of them being victims to the great and glaring defects that
still continue to characterize our social and sanitary enactments."It is also
significant to note that over one-fifth (one twenty-fourth) of the total deaths were
caused by zymotic diseases, which were particularly rife during 1871. Measles, 40
deaths (0), whooping cough, 136 (7), typhus fever (including typhoid or enteric fever)
72 (3 typhoid), scarlatina 90 (5), and diarrhoea '96 (22), were extensively prevalent,
and in addition the most formidable smallpox epidemic for half a century was raging
during the year. No fewer than 1,200 inhabitants (0) of the parish fell victims to this
loathsome malady, and of that number 238 cases (0) proved fatal. In this connection
Dr. Whitmore states that his experience"clearly demonstrates not only the necessity
of efficient vaccination in early infancy, but of re-vaccination also at an early period
of adult life."The sanitary staff in 1871 consisted of the medical officer of health
and three inspectors of nuisances. there was also a sanitary committee"for the
inspection of courts, alleys and dwellings."The years since 1871 have seen many
changes in both these regards. The duties and the responsibilities of the Public
Health Committee (a name substituted for"Sanitary Committee"in 1901), as may
be gathered from the report now submitted, are definitely more varied and extensive
and the staff as a consequence considerably larger. In one of the reports, under the
heading of"Sanitary Work,"is reprinted an interesting statement made by the vestry
to the Metropolitan Board of Works on sanitary and street improvements effected in the
parish since the passing of the Metropolis Local Management Act, 1855. It records,
among other matters, the closing of several of the parish pumps, the water from which
was found to be impregnated with sewage and other organic impurity. the filling in
of over 4,000 cesspools; the acquisition of certain highways owin^ to the abolition of