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
Kensington 1883
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington]
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The subjoined table1 sets out necessary particulars of the mortality from the principal zymotic diseases in 1883, together with the decennial average, &c.:—
| Disease. | Sub-Town. | districts. Brompton. | In Hospitals. | Total. | Totals in 1882. | Decennial Averaere. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Town. | Brompton. | Uncorrected. | Corrected for Increase of Population. | |||||
| Small-Pox | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .. | 20.7 | 22.5 |
| Measles | 34 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 39 | 77 | 69.6 | 75.7 |
| Scarlet Fever | 17 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 28 | 62 | 54.8 | 59.6 |
| Diphtheria | 18 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 24 | 25 | 19.6 | 21.3 |
| Whooping Cough | 38 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 119 | 93.1 | 101.2 |
| Typhus Fever | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3.3 | 3.3 |
| Enteric „ | 16 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 30 | 25 | 23.6 | 25.6 |
| SimpleCond. ,, | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 6.8 | 7.4 |
| Diarrhœa | 69 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 80 | 61 | 113.1 | 123.0 |
| 195 | 36 | 16 | 4 | 251 | 376 | 404.6 | 439.6 | |
From the above table, we learn that the deaths from the
"seven principal diseases of the zymotic class" were 125
fewer than in 1882, and 188 below the corrected decennial
average. As usual, the deaths in the Brompton sub-district
were relatively fewer, in proportion to population, than in
the Town sub-district. The deaths were equal to 96 per
1,000 deaths from all causes in Kensington, (Metropolis, 134),
and to a rate of 1.5 per 1,000 persons living, (Metropolis,
2.7), the decennial average being 2'6 in Kensington, and
3.5 in London. By way of comparison it may be mentioned
that in England and Wales the deaths from these diseases
were 112 in every thousand deaths: the rate was 2.2 per
1,000 persons living, the decennial average being 3'0 per
1,000.
In the 27 large Towns grouped by the Registrar-General
with the Metropolis, the zymotic death-rate was 2.8per 1,000,
ranging from TO in Norwich to 4.3 in Newcastle, and in the
50 large Towns coming next in order of importance after
the 28, it averaged 2.4 per 1,000; the highest rate, (5.8 per
1,000), being recorded at Dudley, and the lowest rate, (0.8),
at Hastings.
* The figures in the table do not tally with those in the Registrar-General's
Annual Summary, because deaths of non-parishioners at public institutions
within the parish are excluded, whilst deaths of parishioners in outlying public
institutions are included.