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VITAL STATISTICS
Whole District
Total deaths, 662. (Males, 336; Females, 326.)
Crude Death Rate, 12.16 (including deaths in St. Bernard's Hospital, Norwood Hall
and Vine Cottage); 8.39 (excluding these deaths.)
For extracts from vital statistics and causes of death, see Appendix, Tables I and II.
Deaths and Death Rate
There is a substantial reduction in the death rate for 1954, the total number of deaths
including those in the long-stay institutions being 662 as compared with 731 the previous
year. Heart disease, coronary disease and cancer were again the principal causes of death.
There was a slight fall in the number dying from cancer, from 120 in 1953 to 115 in 1954,
but there is again an increase in the deaths from heart disease, circulatory disease and
coronary disease, the total increase from these conditions, which are all related to each other,
being from 346 to 351. The rising toll of deaths from these conditions is thought to be due
to the increase in pace of modern living, and although on analysis, it is found that the
majority dying from these causes are in the older age groups, there is still a substantial
number especially of males, dying in the middle ages suddenly from one or another of these
conditions.
Since 1942, only one death has occurred in the Borough from diphtheria, and that was
in 1950. There were no deaths from whooping cough or measles, but there was one maternal
death in hospital following confinement. The deaths from tuberculosis rose from 12 in
1953 to 13 in 1954, and there was one death from poliomyelitis.
The number of outside deaths, i.e. of Southall residents who died in Hillingdon
Hospital, other Middlesex hospitals and hospitals outside the County boundaries, including
various London hospitals, was 234 (males 137 and females 97).
Deaths of institution inmates (including patients from Southall addresses and from
outside areas) number as follows: St. Bernard's Hospital, 190 (males 73 and females 117);
at Mount Pleasant Hospital, 24 (all male); Southall-Norwood Hospital, 20 (8 male and 12
female); Norwood Hall, 10 (all female); Vine House, 7 (1 male and 6 female); in addition 2
deaths (1 male and 1 female) occurred of persons belonging to other districts and residing
temporarily in Southall.
A very pleasing thing to note in this year's figures is that no Southall resident died as a
result of involvement in road accident. This, however, does not mean that the Southall
roads were accident free, as five persons belonging to other districts died as a result of road
accidents occurring in Southall. Of these five, two were motor cyclists, one a motor cycle
pillion passenger, one a motor cycle sidecar passenger and one a pedestrian.
To make an approximate allowance for the way in which the sex and age distribution
of the local population differs from that of England and Wales as a whole, the crude death
rate is multiplied by a comparability factor supplied by the Registrar-General. This, then,
gives a comparative death rate of 13.01, including institutional deaths, or 8 98 excluding these,
compared with the rate for England and Wales as a whole, i.e. 11.3.
For distribution of deaths in the various wards, see Appendix, Table III.
Births and Birth Rate. (Figures for 1953 are given in brackets.)
The total number of registered births in the district (as notified under the Births and
Deaths Registration Act) was 143 (145). The total number of live births belonging to the
district, whether occurring within or outside the district, was 701 (713). The illegitimate
live births were 23 (31). There were 10 stillbirths (13), of these 5 were legitimate and 5
illegitimate.
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