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the 24th of September, amounted to 526. Two hundred and sixty-two of
which were attended by Mr. Hart, who is surgeon to the Spitalfields medical
district. The fact, that Mr. Hart has attended one-half of all the cases of the
above-named zymotic diseases which have occurred among the poor of
the Whitechapel Union, proves that the parish of Spitalfields is the most
unhealthy locality within this district It is therefore to this part of the
district, that I would, in the first instance, direct the attention of the Board.
The locality which most pressingly demands the construction of sewers, is the
neighbourhood of Flower and Dean-street, in which is situated a small court,
called George - court, containing five small houses, where Mr. Hart has
attended, within the last four months, 23 cases of fever. Grey Eaglestreet
is without a sewer, and here 19 cases of fever have been under the care
of Mr. Hart within the last three months.
The numerous cases of illness which annually come under the notice of the
Medical Officers of the Union, testify to the large amount of labour they have
to perform in the discharge of their arduous duties; and I take this opportunity
of acknowledging, and thanking them for, their courtesy and kindness in giving
me much valuable information.
The population of the Whitechapel District, at the end of the year 1855,
would be about 84,000, if the same annual rate of increase continued, (viz:—
1.11 per cent.) since the last census was taken, as prevailed during the years
1841—50. It is therefore upon the existing amount of the population, that
we may, at the commencement of our labours, estimate the rate of mortality.
It appears from the returns of the Registrar General, that the total number of
deaths which were registered in the Whitechapel District for the year ending
December 31st, 1855, was 2459, which is at the rate of 47 per week. We
must however, deduct from the 2459 deaths, a portion of the mortality of the
London Hospital and of the Military Hospital of the Tower, the former having
a mortality of 313, and the latter 10, making together 323 deaths. These
being deducted from the 2459 deaths, leave 2136. But to this number must
be added the deaths of persons belonging to this district, who died in the London
Hospital, and in the other Hospitals in London, and were registered
elsewhere; and these we may fairly take at one-fourth, or 78, which being
added to 2136, shows a mortality for the whole district of 2214.
I stated in my fourth weekly report, that the Whitechapel District, from
the nature of the soil, and from its elevation, ought not to be an unhealthy one.
The subsoil is gravel, and its average height is 28 feet above the high water
Trinity Mark, yet the mortality is much greater than in most of the other
districts in London.
The annual mortality of the Whitechapel District, for the 10 years 1841
—50, was 29 to 1000 living, or 1 in 34 of the whole population. This as an
excess of 12 deaths annually over those that would have happered if the
mortality had been 17 in 1000 living, which number the Registrar General
considers, in our present imperfect state, to be natural deaths, referring all
above that number to artificial causes. The mortality of the Whitechapel