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[No. 11.
REPORT
ON TELE
HEALTH OF PADDINGTON
DURING THE HALF-YEAR ENDING
LADY-DAY, 1864,
BY J. BURDON SANDERSON, M.D.,
Medical Officer of Health.
PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE VESTRY.
Population of Paddington, April, 1861 75,807.
Vestry Hall; July, 1864.
During the last 14 weeks of 1863, 366 persons of all ages died in Paddington,
whereas in the corresponding quarter of the previous year 416 deaths
were registered. Scarlatina, which was fatal to 58 children in 1862 destroyed
only 19 lives in 1863. The deaths from whooping cough were of equal
number in the two quarters; those from measles were fewer in the proportion of
3 to 20, while those attributed to continued fever were more numerous in the
proportion of 2 to 1. The excessive mortality of the second quarter (520 deaths
in 13 weeks) affords the most remarkable example of the influence of cold in
destroying life that I have as yet had occasion to record. On the 4th of January,
after a comparatively mild Christmas, a cold, remarkably dry and penetrating
wind set in from the north-east, which attained on the following day a velocity
of more than ten miles an hour. It rapidly brought down the temperature to
15° below that which usually prevails in the season, and ended in a calm frost,
which lasted several days. The influence of this cold atmospheric wave on
persons suffering from diseases of the chest was most pernicious. The weekly
deaths in London from bronchitis and inflammation of the lungs, rose from
417 to 699, the whole mortality being in excess by 877. In this parish the mortality
of the second week of the year was double the average ; during the whole
quarter 176 persons died of acute diseases of the lungs, the number of deaths
registered from the same causes in 1863 being 84. Among the children of the
poor the mortality from these diseases was more than seven times as great as
among the well-to-do.
Inquests.—During the year ending July 31st, 1863, 1080 inquests were held in
the Central District of Middlesex—that is to say, 136 per 100,000 of the population
in 1861—a proportion which very nearly corresponds to the average number of
inquests held during the four preceding years. In Paddington during the same
period the number of inquests amounted to 128, but of these 34 were held on
persons brought from other parishes to St. Mary's Hospital. It thus appears
that if the whole number be taken into account, 168 inquests per 100,000 were
held, or 32 per 100,000 more than in the Central District; but if the imported
cases be deducted, the Paddington inquests amount to 124 per 100,000, or 12
less than in the Central District.
In 40 of the 128 cases investigated, death was due to natural causes, in 60
to accidents, in 11 to suicide, in 16 to homicide or infanticide, while in one
instance no cause could be discovered. Of the 40 deaths from natural causes,
11 occurred in St. Mary's Hospital, 4 only of which were of inhabitants of Paddington.
Of the 60 accidental deaths, 39 were in the Hospital, only 8 of them
being known to be of residents in Paddington, while 27 were brought there from
other parishes; the residences of four cannot be ascertained,being stated neither
in the Hospital books, nor in the mortuary returns to the Registrar General.
Of 11 suicides, one only was an inhabitant of another parish. Lastly, of
14 infants under one year who were criminally deprived of life, the bodies of