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VITAL STATISTICS
Total deaths, 642. (Males, 313; Females, 329.)
Crude Death Rate, 11.92 (including deaths in St. Bernard's Hospital, Norwood Hall
and Vine Cottage); 8.19 (excluding these deaths).
For extracts from vital statistics and causes of death, see Appendix, Tables I and II.
Deaths and Death Rate
The death rate was again reduced in 1955 after a substantial drop from the year 1953,
the rate in that year being 13.31, as compared with the 1954 figure of 12.16 and the 1955
figure of 11.92. Heart disease, coronary disease and cancer were again the principal causes
of death. Each of these figures, however, shows a slight drop since the previous year,
cancer deaths being 109 as compared to 115 in 1954, and diseases of the heart and circulation
falling from 351 in 1954 to 330 in 1955. There were no deaths from whooping cough or
measles, and no maternal deaths. The deaths from tuberculosis fell from 13 in 1954 to
8 in 1955, and there were two deaths 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 247 (males 136 and females III).
Deaths of institution inmates (including patients from Southall addresses and from
outside areas) number as follows: St. Bernard's Hospital, 195 (males 77 and females 118);
Mount Pleasant Hospital, 24 (all male); Southall-Norwood Hospital, 17 (9 male and 8
female); Vine House, 6 (1 male and 5 female); in addition 4 deaths (2 male and 2 female)
occurred of persons belonging to other districts and residing temporarily in Southall.
In 1954, it was pleasing to record that no Southall resident had died as a result of
injuries received in a road accident. This good record has not been maintained, however,
since 4 people died as the result of motor vehicle accidents during 1955.
It is interesting to note the death rates for the district over the past 70 years from the
time when Southall was a village with just over 4,000 inhabitants until the present time
when it is an industrial town of over 50,000.
Deaths Death Rate
1885 83 19.9
1895 93 13.9
1905 184 10.3
1915 197 9.9
1925 246 8.2
1935 398 8.25
1945 462 9.26
1955 642 8.19
(excluding institution deaths—which were not included
in the statistics until 1953)
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 11.80, including institutional deaths, or 876 excluding
these, compared with the rate for England and Wales as a whole, i.e. 11.7.
For distribution of deaths in the various wards, see Appendix, Table III.
Births and Birth Rate. (Figures for 1954 are given in brackets.)
The total number of registered births in the district (as notified under the Births and
Deaths Registration Act) was 112 (143). The total number of live births belonging to the
district, whether occurring within or outside the district, was 698 (701). The illegitimate
live births were 21 (23). There were 12 stillbirths (10), of these 10 were legitimate and 2
illegitimate.
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