London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Paddington 1881
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Paddington]
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34
and Western groups of Metropolitan Districts during
40 years is shown in the following table of eight
quinquennial periods :—
Means of five years.
| West Districts. | East Districts. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1841-45 | 22.9 | 25.3 |
| 1846-50 | 23.1 | 27.1 |
| 1851-55 | 23.5 | 25.9 |
| 1856-60 | 21.7 | 24.4 |
| 1861-65 | 22.9 | 26.4 |
| 1866-70 | 22.5 | 27.4 |
| 1871-75 | 21.1 | 25.2 |
| 1876-80 | 20.5 | 24.6 |
| 1881 | 19.5 | 24.2 |
| Enumerated Population, 1881 | 669,633 | 692,738 |
The question occurs, what are the constants which
have produced this result, and which find expression
in this augmentation of sickness and death. They
are comprised in the one word—poverty, with its
attendant ills, want of cleanliness, and over.crowding
in badly-ventilated homes in narrow and dirty
streets. In a wealthy district there may be isolated
cases of over-crowding caused by high rents, there
being insufficient house accommodation for the poor,
who are hourly required to wait upon its wants; but,
as a rule, the poor congregate together in the eastern
parts of all large cities, where, from their own class