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
Walthamstow 1909
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Walthamstow]
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24
DEATHS AND DEATH-RATES.
ACCORDING TO WARDS.
The total deaths are credited to the various Wards, and are correct so
far as the returns enable me to allocate them.
How many of the unreturned deaths already referred to belong to one
or other Ward is impossible to say, but presumably they would make
but a slight difference in the death-rate of any one of them.
Care has been taken in arriving at the populations assigned to the
Wards, but at best these figures can be only approximates, and any
deductions drawn from marked differences in death-rates, must be to
that extent discounted.
The deaths and death-rates for 1909 and the death-rates for previous years are as follows:—
| St. James St. | High St. | Hoe St. | Wood St. | Northern. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population, 1909 | 24,500 | 22,500 | 24,500 | 18,000 | 40,000 |
| Deaths, „ | 253 | 202 | 251 | 203 | 296 |
| Death-rate „ | 10 | 9.0 | 10.2 | 11.2 | 7.4 |
| „ 1908 | 13.1 | 9.8 | 11 | 9.9 | 8.1 |
| „ 1907 | 14.3 | 10.8 | 9.9 | 12.8 | 9 |
| 1906 | 12.9 | 11.7 | 11 | 11.7 | 10.8 |
| „ 1905 | 12.7 | 11.4 | 9.8 | 10.2 | 9.3 |
| „ 1904 | 13.85 | 12 | 10.6 | 11.08 | 13.45 |
| „ 1901 | 15.03 | 12.8 | 11.5 | 12.05 | 15.27 |
| (Census year.) |
It will be noticed that these death-rates are based on a population of
129,500, rather than on that assumed by the Registrar-General, namely,
136,602.
There can be little doubt about the total population being at least
129,000, and in noticing the great difference in the death-rates of St. James
Street and the Northern Wards, and comparing their rates with those in
1901, it strikes one that either the Northern Ward's population is overestimated,
or that its death-rate since Census year has fallen much
more proportionately than that of St. James Street.
Assuming the birth-rates are alike in both Wards—thus making the
Northern Ward's population 38,000—on this basis the death-rate shows