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MEDICAL OFFICER'S REPORT.
Gentlemen,
During the fifty-two weeks which ended on the 27th of
December 1856, 1189 deaths were registered in the Parish of
St. Giles, Camberwell. The returns which I have received from
the registrars make the number of deaths -183, or less by six
than the above amount. This difference depends on the fact
that, during the first quarter, one or two of the registrars failed
to transmit me correct returns of those deaths in connection
with which coroner's inquests had been held. The difference
is slight, and for all practical purposes may be disregarded;
and, therefore, since all my tables have been arranged and calculated
on the assumption of the correctness of the returns
which I received, I shall, throughout this report, regard 1183
as a true record of the total mortality of the parish during
the past year.
This number was divided unequally between males and
females; 561 deaths having occurred among the former, 622
among the latter. It was divided unequally also among the
sub-districts; that of Dulwich having contributed 17, that of St.
George 316, that of Peckham 416, and that of Camberwell
434. But the sub-district of Camberwell contains the workhouse,
in which 73 deaths took place, and the Camberwell, and
the Peckham-house lunatic asylums, in which 87 persons died;
and if the deaths, 160 in all, which occurred in these institutions,
be subtracted from the total returned for this sub-district, we
obtain the number 274, as a more correct expression of its
comparative mortality.