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The deaths caused by diseases of the respiratory organs, exclusive of
consumption, are 43, of these 17 were attributed to Pneumonia or inflammation
of the substance of the lungs, and 23 to Bronchitis or inflammation
of the bronchial or air tubes, 2 to Laryngitis, and 1 to Asthma. The
tubercular class of diseases was fatal to 99, of which 52 were caused
by consumption. Thirty-five deaths were caused by violence, 2 by
poison, one of these, the wife of a clothier, having mistaken white
precipitate for arrow-root, 2 from wounds on the throat, 4 from
burns and scalds, 3 by drowning, one of which was that of a child
who accidentally fell in a tub of water, and another, that of a man
aged 60, who was accidentally drowned in a bath. A child residing at
Little Pearl Street, was wilfully murdered. There were 3 cases of manslaughter
and 5 of children suffocated in bed. A man aged 23 years of age
was killed by a sun-stroke on the 26th July; a child aged 8 years, died of
hydrophobia from the bite of a dog, and 5 deaths were caused by carriage
accidents in the streets. A man aged 60 was killed by a fall, occasioned by
his leg getting entangled in a lady's crinoline in the street, and 2 men were
killed by the bursting of boilers.
The deaths of children under 5 years of age, have been 283, which is
48.8 per cent. of the total mortality. In the Whitechapel North sub-district,
the deaths of children under 5, in proportion to the total deaths, is
63.3 per cent. The fact that so large a proportion of deaths of young children,
which I have had every quarter to record, speaks very unfavourably of the
general condition of this district.
From a Supplement to the last Annual Report of the Registrar
General, it appears that in 1861, the number of males living in the Whitechapel
District, under 5 years of age, was 5,101, and of females 5,117,
making together 10,718, which is 12.9 per cent. or about one-eighth of the
total population. The average amount of mortality per cent. of children
under 5 years of age, in the ten years 1851-60, was 10.246; of boys, it
was 10.669, and of females, 9.822 per cent. This high rate of mortality is
above that of any of the districts in the Metropolis, with the exception of
that in St. Giles, where the rate of mortality of children under 5 years is
10.852 per cent., that of males being 11.691, and of females 10.043 percent.
The rate of mortality of children under 5 is, however, higher by two per
cent. in Leeds, Wolverhampton, and Liverpool, than in Whitechapel.
From the Registrar General's returns, we learn that, in 1861, the number
of males in London was 1,307,781, and of females 1,496,208—total
2,803,989; of these there were 361,296 under 5—above 5 and under 10—
300,259; above 10 and under 15—264,349; above 15 and under 20—
259,155. The number of females living at the time when the last census
was taken, who were above 80, was 6,958, and of males 3,710—total
10,668; of these 152 were 9.5 years of age and upwards, of which 42 were
males and 110 females.