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VITAL STATISTICS
Total deaths, 652. (Males, 324; Females, 328.)
Crude Death Rate, 12.25 (including deaths in St. Bernard's Hospital, and Vine Cottage);
8.53 (excluding these deaths).
For extracts from vital statistics and causes of death, see Appendix, Tables I and II.
Deaths and Death Rate

This rate is calculated from figures which include the deaths in the long-stay institutions
such as St. Bernard's Hospital and Vine Cottage, and since the proportion of former residents
of Southall occupying beds in these institutions is comparatively small, particularly as St.
Bernard's Hospital has a catchment area extending beyond Middlesex into neighbouring
counties, the death rate calculated from the figure excluding these deaths is more nearly
accurate. This, however, has also risen from 8.19 in 1955 to 8 53 in 1956. The principal
causes of death were heart disease, diseases of the circulatory system and cancer. There
was, however, a fall in the number of deaths from heart disease; the number of deaths from
circulatory diseases was the same as for 1955 except for an increase of one; cancer figures
however, showed an increase of 23, of whom 7 were male and 16 were female, and rising
from 109 deaths in 1955 to 132 in 1956. There were no deaths from whooping cough,
measles, diphtheria or poliomyelitis. A rise of one in the number of deaths from tuberculosis
occurred, the figure, which fell from 13 in 1954 to 8 in 1955, rose to 9 in 1956. The deaths
from respiratory diseases including pneumonia, fell considerably from 102 in 1955 to 87
in 1956, probably as a result of the conditions during the winter when no severe frosts or
fogs were experienced.
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 270 (males 142 and females 128).
Deaths of institution inmates (including patients from Southall addresses and from
outside areas) number as follows: St. Bernard's Hospital, 188 (males 86 and females 102);
Mount Pleasant Hospital, 12 (all male); Southall-Norwood Hospital, 7 (3 male and 4 female);
Vine House, 10 (2 male and 8 female); in addition 11 deaths (2 male and 9 female) occurred
of persons belonging to other districts and residing temporarily in Southall.
The road accidents figure is disappointing, since in spite of all the work that is being
done on road safety within the Borough, the number of road accident deaths rose again.
In 1956, 6 people died as the result of motor vehicle accidents, as compared with 4 in 1955,
and none in 1954. It is regrettable that the total number of deaths from violence, i.e. road
accidents, other accidents and suicide increased from 20 in 1955 to 27 in 1956.
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 10.41, including institutional deaths, or 7.25 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.
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