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

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Camberwell 1856

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Camberwell, St. Giles]

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mortality of the several divisions of Camberwell, it will be
necessary, on the one hand to determine what the probable increase
of population in each division since the last census has
been, and on the other hand to divide the mortality of the
Workhouse and of the Asylums proportionately between them.
The whole of Camberwell, as before stated, increased between
the two last censuses, at the rate of 37-1 per cent., or in other
words 14,799 persons were added to it in that time. But the
increase in the several sub-districts was not at all proportionate
to the general increase. Dulwich remained stationary. The
sub-district of Camberwell augmented at the rate of 25 per
cent.; that of St. George's at 41 per cent.; and that of Peckham
at 54 per cent. On the assumption that these rates of
increase have continued, calculations, conducted on the same
principles as those which I employed in estimating the present
population of the entire parish, indicate that in the spring of
1856, the probable population of Dulwich was 1632, that of
Camberwell 19,525, that of St. George 18,163, and that of
Peckham 22,884. And calculating the mortality according to
these estimates of the population, and incorporating the necessary
corrections as regards the mortality of the Workhouse and
Asylums, the more correct death rate in each subdistrict will
become, lor Dulwich 1.29 per cent., for Camberwell 1.73 per
cent., for St. George 1.97 per cent., and for Peckham 2.04
per cent.; or, to adopt a different form of expression, in Dulwich
13 persons died out of every 1000, in Camberwell 17
out of every 1000, in St. George rather less, and in Peckham
rather more than 20 out of the same number. So that although
the mortality of Camberwell generally, and that of three of its
sub-districts, are not unfavorable when compared with the mortality
of other districts, their mortality contrasted with that of the
Hamlet of Dulwich is exceeding high and sufficiently alarming.
Mortality among Children.—On casting our eyes over the
columns which show the number of deaths due to different ages,
the great preponderance of mortality among young children
arrests the attention. No fewer than 427 deaths, out of 1183,
occurred among children under five years of age, which is
equivalent to 36.1 per cent. Of this number Dulwich contributed
3, Camberwell 119, St. George's 136, and Peckham
169. Table VI. shows the proportions which the deaths of
children, under five years of age, bear to the total mortality,