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137
DEATHS IN PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS.
The only "large public institution" within the parish in
which we are directly interested, is the Parish Infirmary and
Workhouse, situated in the Town sub-district. There are several
minor public, or quasi-public institutions, but, with one exception,
they do not furnish occasion for special notice. The excepted
institution is St. Joseph's House, Portobello Road, Notting
Hill—a Roman Catholic Home for aged poor persons of both
sexes, brought from various parts, principally from Ireland—but
the Registrar-General does not regard it as a "public institution."
The deaths of non-parishioners at the Marylebone Infirmary,
Notting Hill (456), and at the Brompton Consumption Hospital
(148), are excluded from our statistics, but will furnish occasion
for a few remarks later on. The deaths of parishioners registered
at the Parish Infirmary and Workhouse (273), and at outlying
institutions (178), were 351, or 17.1 per cent, on total
deaths, the percentage proportion of deaths in public institutions
in the Metropolis generally being 20.5. The addition of the
deaths at the Marylebone Infirmary and Brompton Hospital to
those at the Parish Infirmary, would raise the percentage in
Kensington to 40'0.
The Parish Infirmary and Workhouse.—I am indebted
to Mr. H. Percy Potter, Medical Superintendent of the Infirmary,
and Medical Officer to the Workhouse, for the statistics of
mortality at these important institutions, the former being, to
all intents and purposes, as indeed its name would imply, a
hospital; it contains over six hundred beds. The deaths registered
at these institutions in 1884 were 273, including a few of nonparishioners,
as against 273, 307, and 322 in the three previous
years. The quarterly numbers were 72, 56, 73, and 72, so that
144 deaths occurred in the first and fourth (or cold) quarters, and
129 in the second and third (or warm) quarters. The deaths of
males were 143, and of females 130. The 273 deaths were
equal to 10.3 per cent, on total deaths of parishioners. The
ages at death were, under one year, 32; between one year and
60 years, 130 ; and at 60 years and upwards, 111. The greatest
f