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165
aged poor persons of both sexes, brought from various parts,
and principally from Ireland, if one may judge from the large
proportion of deaths of Irish persons. The Registrar General,
however, does not regard St. Joseph's House as a public institution.
The deaths of non-parishioners at the Marylebone
Infirmary, Notting Hill, some 396 in number, have been entirely
ignored in our statistics, but will furnish occasion for a few
remarks in a subsequent paragraph. The deaths registered
at the Parish Infirmary and Workhouse, at the Brompton
Hospital, and at the Hospitals of the Asylums Board were 402,
or nearly 15 percent, on total deaths, the percentage proportion
of deaths in public institutions in the Metropolis generally
being 18-9. The addition of the deaths at the Marylebone
Infirmary would raise the percentage in Kensington to 25.7.
The Parish Infirmary and Workhouse.—I am indebted
to Mr. H. Percy Potter, Medical Superintendent of the
Infirmary, and Medical Officer of the Workhouse, for
the statistics of mortality at these important institutions;
the former being, as its name implies, a large hospital containing
over 600 beds. The deaths, 307 in number, were equal to 11.4 per
cent. of all deaths registered in the parish; they were 34 in excess
of the total in 1881 (273), and 71 in excess of the total in
1880 (236). The deaths comprised 172 of males, and 135 of
females, the quarterly totals being 67, 74, 70, and 96; so that
163 deaths occurred in the first and last (or cold) quarters, and
144 in the second and third (or warm) quarters. More
than a third of the deaths (107) were of persons aged 60 and
upwards, (greatest age, female 99), and just one half (153) were
caused by diseases of the organs of respiration; these diseases
being most fatal in cold weather and to aged people. The ages
at death were, under one year, 40; between one and sixty,
160; sixty and upwards, 107. Six inquests were held; the
causes of death in three cases being "natural," and in three
"violent," viz.: male, aged 65, found dead in a bath, suffocation;
male, aged 26, injury to head, misadventure, and male,
aged 3 days, found dead in bed, suffocation.