View report page

1858-9.
ANNUAL REPORT
of
The Medical Officer of Health.
Gentlemen,
An enquiry into the sanitary history of St, Giles's, in 1858, may
be fitly prefaced by some observations on the health of the metropolis at large, during
the year. Proceeding to investigate the statistics of our own district, we shall have to
observe, as usual, an excess in its mortality beyond the rate which has prevailed in
London as a whole; but we shall also discover that the number of deaths which
occurred in St. Giles's in 1858, presented a remarkable fall below the average of the
district in former years. An examination of the real significance of this apparent
improvement in the public health, will require much caution, and will unavoidably
involve a good deal of detail: as, however, definite results of a cheering character will
be arrived at, the length of the enquiry may be more easily forgiven.
A very short notice will suffice of those diseases in the district which did not
contribute to the death-returns, and I shall then have the satisfaction of enumerating
the various measures that have been taken for the improvement of the sanitary condition
of the district. Such will be the chief topics of this report. While we
acknowledge how much scope there is for improvement in the health of our
district, and how little of our great task has yet been accomplished, still we shall find
that sufficient progress has already been made to serve as a strong incentive to our
future exertions.
Chapter I.—Mortality and Death-rate of the Metropolis in 1858.
The year 1858 was not so salubrious to London as its predecessor. Comparing
equal periods of fifty-two weeks, 4869 more persons died in the later than in the
earlier year. Still, in 1858, the mortality did not reach up to the average rate (24 per
1000) which had prevailed in the town for the ten preceding years. The death-rate
of 1858, per thousand persons then living, was 23.5, while in 1857, it was only 22.2
per thousand.
The increase of deaths affected all five groups of the metropolitan districts, the
southern presenting the largest rise, and the central districts—among which St. Giles
is placed—the smallest amount of increase. (See Table I. Appendix.)