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
West Ham 1896
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for West Ham]
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7
In order to obtain the enumerated population and inhabited
houses in these several areas, sent Reply Post Cards to the occupier
of each house in the Woodgrange area, asking for particulars to be
filled in, my request being met with a most ready response. In
the other areas my Inspectors made a house to house call. The
populations thus arrived at are probably as accurate as it is possible to
obtain, except by means of an official census. Any error likely to
arise would occur in the poorer districts in cases of overcrowded
houses, with which nuisance it might be considered undesirable on the
part of the tenant to acquaint the Inspector. Such errors, however,
must have been few, and in any case would merely tend to reduce
rather than to increase the death-rate.
In the Table below I give a summary of my calculations :—
| District. | Houses. | Population. | Number of Persons per House | No. of Deaths. | Death-rate per 1,000. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woodgrange Area | 447 | 2,293 | 5 | 22 | 9-6 |
| Stratford Marsh Area... | 432 | 2,966 | 6-9 | 82 | 20-7 |
| Old Canning Town Area | 545 | 3,585 | 6-6 | 100 | 27-9 |
| Croydon Road Area ... | 1,026 | 6,503 | 6-3 | 123 | 18-9 |
pertaining to Old Canning Town. As might be expected from the number of persons per house shown above, the proportion of children in the Woodgrange area differs greatly from that of the other districts.
| Children under 13 years of age. Per cent, of total population of area. | |
| Woodgrange Area ... | 20 per cent. |
| Stratford Marsh Area | 47-6 „ |
| Old Canning Town Area ... | 48-9 „ |
| Crovdon Road Area | 43-8 „ |