London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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St Luke 1898

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St. Luke, Middlesex]

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the Parish, and it will be seen that they constitute a considerable
proportion of the total deaths, viz., 39.1 per cent. The list of such
deaths is furnished to me weekly from the Registrar.General's
office and is therefore official, nevertheless, I have from time to
time had reason to doubt its correctness, more especially of those
persons who have died in the various establishments belonging to
the Holborn Union, and who are for the most part simply described
in the list as of "St. Luke's." I may point out that
both of the Workhouses and the Infirmary are situated outside
the area of the Holborn Union; during the last half year I
have been able by the courtesy of Mr. H. O. Hill, Clerk to the
Guardians, to obtain some information of these cases and which
has fully confirmed my doubt as to their correctness. During
the period above mentioned the total number of Institution
deaths returned as belonging to St. Luke was 212, of these 48
died in the several establishments of the Holborn Union, and
the result of my enquiries shows that 20 were not parishioners
of St. Luke; 16 were described as homeless, 3 as short resident,
and 9 only were formerly residents. Assuming the foregoing
fairly represents the errors for the year the number of our
Institution deaths was 134 instead of 212, and those described
as homeless and short resident should have been credited to the
districts in which the deaths occurred, as is the practice with
respect to persons dying in Lodging.houses and Institutions
within the District when the former residence is unknown.
Inquests.
One hundred and twelve Inquests were held on the bodies of
parishioners during the year, being at the rate of 10.6 per cent.
of the total deaths. Seventy.one enquiries (four being as to the
cause of death of non.parishioners) took place at the Coroner's
Court belonging to this Parish, and the cause of death was
ascertained by post.mortem examination in 47 instances.
The remaining 45 enquiries were held at Hospitals and Institutions
outside our parochial area.