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
St Luke 1897
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St. Luke, Middlesex]
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the district, and inclusion of deaths of residents dying in outlying
institutions, as well as for age and sex distribution. Dr. Yarrow, the
Medical Officer of Health, in his Annual Reports to the Vestry, points
out that a number of mothers of children born in the City Road
Lying-in Hospital are not permanent residents in the parish; if
allowance be made for these the birth-rates are considerably lowered,
but still remain higher than those prevailing in London generally.
The deaths from the principal zymotic diseases, and of children under one year of age, give the following rates
| * Zymotic Death-Rate per 1,000 Living. | Deaths under One Year Old per 1,000 Births. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| London. | St. Luke. | Holborn. | Clerken-well. | London. | St. Luke. | Holborn. | Clerken-well. | |
| 1891 | 2.27 | 2.82 | 4.36 | 4.35 | 153 | 159 | 228 | 170 |
| 1892 | 2.80 | 3.09 | 3.00 | 2.86 | 154 | 142 | 211 | 172 |
| 1893 | 3.04 | 5.53 | 3.38 | 4.83 | 163 | 174 | 214 | 202 |
| 1894 | 2.65 | 2.08 | 2.55 | 2.63 | 143 | 123 | 180 | 145 |
| 1895 | 2.62 | 5.39 | 2.87 | 3.80 | 165 | 184 | 212 | 192 |
| 1896 | 3.14 | 3.82 | 3.21 | 3.78 | 160 | 154 | 194 | 184 |
The inhabitants of St. Luke are housed in premises consisting
chiefly of two and three storeys, situated in fairly wide streets, which
form the main thoroughfares of the district, and in narrower side
streets off these. The district is entirely built over, there being no
open space except in the centre of King's Square and in the neighbourhood
of Finsbury Square, where there is a small amount of land
unbuilt on in connection with militia barracks, and a disused burial
ground. The two-storey houses are to be found in the side streets and
alleys; they are mostly old cottages, showing signs of decay, though
at the time of inspection they were, on the whole, in a fair state of
repair, owing to the fact that they are constantly receiving attention
from the officers of the authority. Each house generally contains two
rooms, one on the ground floor and the other on the top floor, the
staircase affording communication between the two being situated in
the ground floor room, into which also the door from the street directly
opens. They mostly have small back-yards, and some have in addition
a small room at the rear of the ground floor room, which is used as a
kitchen or washhouse. These premises are mostly occupied by single
families, but in some cases by two, though from their arrangement
they are not adapted for this purpose. The houses three storeys in
height are situated chiefly in the larger thoroughfares; they generally
contain an entrance passage and have two rooms, one behind the other
* Smallpox, Measles, Scarlet Fever, Diphtheria, Whooping Cough, Fever,
Diarrhœa.