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formation of what used to be Essex Marshes to West Ham district. Another reason why it is advisable to
compare West Ham with London arises from the fact that in the weekly death-rate list of the great
English towns drawn up by the Registrar-General, and published in the daily press, the death-rate
attributed to West Ham is always considerably below that of London, and, being uncorrected, tends to
give a very inaccurate impression of the comparative mortality of the two districts.
Births.—During the year 1893 1,604 births were registered in the Stratford Ward, 1,580 in Forest
Gate Ward, 2,538 in Plaistow Ward, and 2,304 in Canning Town Ward, making a total of 8,026 births in
the whole Borough, being 13 more than were registered in 1892, and equivalent to an annual birth-rate
of 35.3 per 1,000.
Deaths.—During the year, 749 deaths were registered in Stratford Ward, 879 in Forest Gate Ward,
1,194 in Plaistow Ward, and 1,144 in Canning Town Ward. Fifty-one deaths occurred in the Borough
Small-pox Hospital, 44 in West Ham Hospital, 30 in the Branch Seamen's Hospital, 11 in the Plaistow
Poplar Hospital, 4 in Forest Gate Industrial School, and 237 in the West Ham Workhouse. Besides
these, 253 persons died in hospitals and other institutions in the metropolis who previously lived in West
Ham, while 31 deaths were registered in the Borough of persons temporarily staying here. The correct
number of deaths attributable to West Ham was therefore 4,565, or 546 more than occurred in the
year 1892. Taking the Registrar-General's estimate of the population of the Borough at the middle of the
year, viz., 227,405, the corrected annual death-rate amounted to 20 per 1,000, whereas the West Ham
death-rate published by the Registrar-General was only 18.9, a much more favourable but fallacious
figure. As it is, however, it compares favourably with London, the death-rate of which daring the year
was 21.3, and with many of the great English towns, which in the aggregate registered an annual
death-rate of 21.6. It is a matter of common knowledge that a low death-rate does not by itself necessarily
point to a thoroughly sanitary district, and the recurring instances, one might say the almost invariable
fact, of the West Ham death-rate being lower than that of the metropolis can, in my opinion, be explained
chiefly by the large and constant additions we receive of young lives from without our district. A glance at
the census returns on p. 16 will show what a large number of young married people we have in West Ham.
The time is not far distant when the whole area of the Borough shall have been built over, and when
our phenomenal decennial increases of population shall cease. Then the character of the Borough
population, the precarious nature of the work of a large proportion of the inhabitants and the conditions
under which they live, will counteract the above-mentioned favourable factor which at the present time
induces many to fancy that our hard-working manufacturing town is not only more healthy than London,
but nearly as healthy as Brighton.
Chief Causes of Death.—In the appendix will be found a tabular statement of all the chief
diseases causing death, distributed in various ages, in accordance with the table of the Registrar-General,
together with tables of mortality and sickness required by the Local Government Board. The chief
zymotic diseases caused 913 deaths, equivalent to an annual zymotic death-rate of 4 per 1,000, which is
•9 above the London zymotic death-rate, and .4 above the average West Ham zymotic death-rate during
the past eleven years. The increase was due to small-pox and scarlatina. Scarlatina was very prevalent
during the whole year, about 500 cases being notified each quarter (vide Appendix, p. 65). In all, 2,184
cases occurred, causing eighty-three deaths. The disease did not attack one district more than any other