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Of the 734 deaths, there were 306, or nearly 42 per cent Hinder, 5 years of age, and of these,
165 were of children under one year. If we exclude the total deaths in the London Hospital, the
proportion of deaths under 5 are 46.6 per cent. The proportion of deaths of young children
varies very much in the several districts; thus, in the Artillery District, where the total deaths
are 38, the deaths under 5 years are 15, or 39 per cent; in the Spitalfields District, the total
deaths are 89, and the deaths under 5 are 48, or nearly 54 per cent. In the Mile End New
Town District, the deaths are 205, and the mortality under 5 is 85, or 41 per cent. In the
Whitechapel North District, the mortality is 79, and the deaths under 5 are 33 or 41 per cent.
In the Whitechapel Church District, the deaths are 153, and the deaths under 5 are 36, or 23
per cent. In the Goodman's Fields District, the mortality is 81, and the deaths under 5 are 44,
or 54 pe>r cent; and in the Aldgate District, the deaths are 89, of which, 45, or nearly 50 per
cent, are of children under 5 years of age.
The number of inquests are 58, among which, are 16 cases of deaths from the effects of
of burns and scalds. The records in some of these cases are truly distressing, inasmuch as,
from ordinary care, the accident might have been avoided,—there being no less than 5 of these
deaths caused by the clothes of the sufferers catching fire; all of these deaths might have been
prevented, if the clothes had been rendered uninfiamable, which may be accomplished by immersing
them in various chemical solutions, such as of alum, &c., a plan, which is now
occasionally, but ought to be universally, adopted, whenever children are likely to be left
without the care of a nurse. Two of the cases of death from burns arose from negligence, by
leaving the children in a room with a fire unprotected by a fire-guard.
Among the records of the inquests are four deaths from the effects of poison; two of
which, were from the taking of muriatic acid, one, from sulphuric acid, and one, from oxalic
acid. All these poisons are readily sold at oil-shops and drug-shops. The death of a man
aged 50, is recorded as from apoplexy, through inhaling the vapour of spirit in a rum vault in
the London Docks. A man aged 22, working in a sugar house, met with his death from a
fracture of the skull, occasioned by "a sugar mould of sugar falling upon him, the rope-sling
breaking, it being defective." In the case of a newly born child, found dead in Thomas-street,
the verdict of "wilful murder" was recorded. Inquests were held on six children, whose
death was caused by suffocation in bed; but whether these children were wilfully or accidentally
deprived of life, it is difficult to determine. Such cases are of frequent occurrence, and ought
to be most rigidly inquired into. Three persons died from the effects of intemperance, viz.—
a female aged 54, a male aged 41, and a male aged 50; the latter died a "violent death from
drinking intoxicating liquors out of casks in the Docks." A girl six years old, (illegitimate)
who resided with her mother, at No. 12, Queen-street, Tower-hill, died suddenly "from exhaustion,
from scrofula, and through neglect and want of nourishment." Prom an inquiry
which I instituted in this case, I learnt that the mother was frequently drunk; that the room
in which she lived was destitute of furniture and in a very filthy condition. The mother wa3
severely reprimanded by the Coroner for her conduct towards the deceased.
The uncertified cases of death are 8, viz: 4 (infants) from "convulsions," 1 from
"diseased heart," 2 from " inflammation of the chest," and 1 (a child aged 7 months) from