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
Shoreditch 1856
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Shoreditch]
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arrangements will very shortly be completed, by which complete copies of the District
Registrars' mortuary-returns will be supplied to the Vestries. At least 95 per cent. of
all the reliable information as to the causes of death is supplied gratuitously by the
members of the medical profession; this information they continue to give on public
grounds and for the public benefit. There is no application more useful and more
legitimate of the knowledge thus acquired as to the causes of death, than that which in
the hands of the Medical Officers of Health is made immediately subservient to the
preservation of life.
For the purpose of greater distinctness and condensation, I have arranged the
facts relating to sickness and mortality in a series of Tables. The first Table shews the
number of cases of epidemic disease attended by the District Medical Officers during
the 77 days, and the total number of cases of sickness of all kinds during the 91
days, ending 28th June, 1856.
TABLE I.
Shewing the number of cases of Epidemics under the charge of the District Medical Officers during 77 days, ending 28th June, 1856, and the total number of cases of sickness during the 91 days ending on same day.
| DISTRICT. | Medical Officer. | Small Pox. | Measles. | Scarlatina. | Hooping Cough. | Diarrhœa. | Typhus. | Total Epidemics. | Total cases of Sickness. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Church End North | Mr. Greenwood | 1 | ... | 8 | 36 | 45 | 633 | ||
| Church End South | Dr. Burchell | 3 | 88 | 91 | 640 | ||||
| Hoxton | Mr. Coward | 11 | 17 | 9 | 37 | 591 | |||
| Holywell & Moorfields | Mr. Collier | 8 | 92 | 100 | 856 | ||||
| Workhouse | Mr. Clark | (*) | (*55) | (*50) | 648† | ||||
| Total | 24 | 25 | 280 | 324 | 3368 | ||||
* The Returns from the Workhouse extend over 63 days only. Five cases of Fever, having been previously under the
care of the Medical Officers out of the House, have to be subtracted. Small-pox cases are not admitted into the Workhouse,
but are sent to the Small-pox Hospital.
† This number includes all cases of sickness treated in the Workhouse during the quarter.
One out of every 38 inhabitants of the Parish has, therefore, been under the
care of the Poor-Law Medical Officers during the quarter.
The incompleteness of the Sickness Returns during the first quarter of our
sanitary administration, precludes accurate statistical analysis. The Table, however,
as it stands, exhibits distinct facts, suggests useful deductions, and will serve to mark
what it is desirable to effect with more precision in future Reports. The same