Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kingston-upon-Thames]
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Before inquiring further into these figures I
will refer to the density of population, which is a
very powerful factor in the causation of disease. I
find that the density per head per acre in the
Borough of Kingston is twenty times as great as in
Kingston Hill and Coombe—eight times as great as
in New Maiden—three times as great as in Surbiton
—and two-and-a-half times as great as in Ham.
The excess of females over males is greatest
between the ages of 10 years and 40 years, and the
relative proportions in the different districts are as
follows, viz.:—
Kingston Males 14 to Females 15
Surbiton ,, 10 „ 18
New Maiden ,, 8 „ 10
Ham 7 „ 11
A tolerably fair way of comparing the deathrates
of each district is to deduct the excess of
females at these ages from the estimated populations
for each district for 1893, the result being as below:
Kingstn.
Surbtn.
New
Maldn.
Ham.
Death-rates for 1893
18.6
12.5
15.5
15.6
Death-rates after
deduction of
excessive female
population
18.7
14.9
16.2
17.5
These calculations allow nothing for the extra
density of population in any portion, so that given
similar surroundings it cannot be said that any one
division of the district is healthier than another,
though, as is always the case, large, well built houses
with plenty of air spaces, are healthier than small
and thickly populated houses in narrower streets.
Passing on to the consideration of special
diseases, we come first to Measles. In 1893, however,
this disease was almost completely absent from