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The number of deaths occurring from all causes in infants
and children under five years of age, was 736; the numbers for
the preceding nine years having been 663, 656, 628, 624, 707,
724, 728, 789, and 700, the average being 691.
354 deaths occurred at and above 60 years of age, including
71 at and above 80.
295 deaths occurred from pulmonary diseases, the number
for the preceding year being 293.
156 deaths took place in the Workhouse; the numbers for
the last seven years having been 120, 137, 160, 172, 158, 167,
and 174.
29 deaths occurred in the House of Correction; and 2 in
the House of Detention. The numbers for the preceding year
were 38 and 4 respectively.
The accidental deaths were 20, against 19 in 1865, viz.: 8
from fractures and contusions, 1 from wounds, 1 from burns,
7 from suffocation, and 3 from other causes.
1 death was produced by murder, that of an infant.
4 deaths arose from suicide, viz.:—2 from wounds, 1 from
poison, and 1 from hanging.
These are the principal numerical data relating to the
mortality of the year. The Table appended to this Report
gives a statement of the causes and numbers of the deaths,
with the ages at which they occurred, in further detail.
In deciding upon the rate of mortality occurring in the
district, we are at once met by the difficulty of determining
the number of inhabitants, in consequence of being unable to
ascertain how many have left, from their dwellings having been
pulled down. So that we can do little more than compare the
absolute numbers of deaths occurring in one year with those
which have taken place in former years. Taking the rate of
increase found to have ensued between the years 1851 and
1861, the increase would amount to 541. Adding to this
number that of the occupants of the Corporation Buildings
(811), and of the Cobden Buildings, containing 20 families
(say 80), we should have an addition of 1432 to the
inhabitants of the district. But considering the number of
houses pulled down in the Farringdon Road, and their occupants,
this number would have to be reduced to an uncertain extent.
Yet, on the whole, there can be no doubt that the number of