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 1914
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Shoreditch]
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The numbers of tenements, rooms and persons in the artisans' dwellings in the Borough, estimated for 1914, are contained in the subjoined table:—
| Number of blocks. | Number of tenements. | Number of rooms. | Number of persons. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class A | 44 | 1,935 | 4,775 | 6,650 |
| Class B | 15 | 379 | 919 | 1,800 |
| Total for the whole | 59 | 2,314 | 5,694 | 8,450 |
Taking the figures in the above table, the number of rooms per tenement
averages 2.4 for both classes of dwellings, but the number of persons per room
for the Class A is approximately 1.4, as compared with 2.0 for Class B, which
may be taken as an indication of the more crowded condition of the Class B as
compared with the Class A dwellings.
The births registered during the year, and the birth-rates in the dwellings as a whole, and the two classes into which they have been divided, are shown below:—
| The whole of the Dwellings. | Class A. | Class B. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number. | Rate per 1,000 Inhabitants. | Number. | Rate per 1,000 Inhabitants. | Number. | Rate per 1,000 Inhabitants. |
| 248 | 29.3 | 167 | 25.1 | 81 | 45.0 |
The proportion of deaths attributed to prematurity was at the rate of 0.1 per
1,000 births as compared with 36.7 in 1913, 7.2 in 1912, 24.4 in 1911, 13.5 in 1910,
11.7 in 1909, 4.3 in 1908, 12 in 1907, 12 in 1906 and 27.5 in 1905. In Class A
there were no deaths from prematurity, whilst in Class B there was only one,
the rate being 0.5 per 1,000 births. For the whole Borough the deaths from
prematurity amounted to 10.9 per 1,000 births.
The infantile mortality for the whole of the dwellings was 173 per 1,000
births as compared with 143 in 1913, 84 in 1912, 131 in 1911, 95 in 1910, 113 in
1909, 103 in 1908, 124 in 1907, 97 in 1906 and 140 in 1905. For the Class A
dwellings it was 150 as compared with 152 in 1913, 76 in 1912, 125 in 1911, 65 in
19J0, 101 in ]909, 75 in 1908, 99 in 1907, 84 in 1906 and 134 in 1905. For Class B
the mortality was 222, as compared with 115 in 1913, 99 in 1912, 147 in 1911,
192 in 1910, 158 in 1909, 213 in 1908, 207 in 1907, 133 in 1906 and 166 in 1905.