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The Proportion of Illegitimate to Legitimate Births.
38. With reference to the excessive mortality in the sub-district of St.
Giles South, especially among its infant population, it is interesting to notice
the proportion of its illegitimate births in relation to those of the other
sub-districts.
In 1853, the illegitimate births in London were 1 in 24, and in St. Giles
District 1 in 16. In the three sub-districts of St. Giles, the proportions
were, in Bloomsbury 1 in 50, in St. Giles South 1 in 8, and in St. Giles
North 1 in 29.
39. I have been favored by the Officers in the Registrar General's office
with the following facts (not yet published) relating to this matter. In the
year 1870 there were, in Bloomsbury, 16 illegitimate births, in St. Giles
South 70, and in St. Giles North 19. In the year 1871, there were 11 in
Bloomsbury, 73 in St. Giles South, and 16 in St. Giles North. Adding the
numbers for the two years together, we get severally 27, 143, and 35, which
is equivalent, per annum, to 1 illegitimate in 36 births in Bloomsbury, 1 in
8 in St. Giles South, and 1 in 31 in St. Giles North.
40. We thus see that while St. Giles South has, in the course of 20
years, remained stationary in this respect, (and perhaps it could not get
worse) and whilst St. Giles North has slightly improved, the morality of
Bloomsbury has sadly deteriorated. St. Giles South, it is true, is twice as
bad as London, and St. Giles North about twice better, and Bloomsbury a
little better still; but Bloomsbury has fallen away from its old high standard
in a very remarkable degree. This increasing moral depravity corresponds
with the increasing death-rate—together we have a sure indication of the
increasing deterioration of a population. As the Workhouse, which is
chargeable with many of these illegitimate births, stands in St. Giles South,
this sub-district is not responsible for the whole of its illegitimacy.
The Proportion Dying in Workhouses and Hospitals.
41. The average number of deaths per annum in hospital, for a period
of 10 years, (including all the hospitals usually visited) is 97. If to these
be added the average number of deaths among patients under the care of the
Physicians and Surgeons of the Bloomsbury Dispensary (102), besides a
small number dying in the Lying-in Charity and elsewhere, we get an
average aggregate of 200 deaths per annum among persons receiving charitable
medical relief.
42. Again, the average number of deaths per annum in the workhouse
has been 257, and the average number among out-patients of the workhouse
220—together 477. If we add these numbers together, we obtain an
average of 677 deaths per annum of persons who had been receiving parochial
or charitable medical relief.
43. The total average of deaths per annum during the 10 years was
1519, consequently more than 44 per cent. of our population died under the
care of hospital or parochial medical officers. This statement shows the
distressed condition of the mass of our population. Throughout the metropolis,
9 deaths in the 100 occurred in workhouses, and 8 in the 100 in
hospitals. Among our people, 7 in the 100 died in hospitals, and 17 in the
100 died in the workhouse.
44. In the face of these facts, it becomes a grave question whether
eleemosynary medicine should be encouraged. It most certainly requires
regulation. The facility with which even artizans, earning good wages, can
obtain medical relief, by simply applying for it, in any and every district of
the metropolis, is an incentive to improvidence, by accustoming them to rely
upon charity rather than upon their own frugality and forethought, and
points to the way, to be followed, with tardy steps it may be, but without
much remorse, to the workhouse.