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131
Besides the 966 deaths occurring in the Parish, 485
inhabitants of Clerkenwell died outside the district, and these
must be added before a true death rate which can be used for
purposes of comparison will be obtained.
The total number of Clerkenwell deaths is thus 1,451,
which gives a death rate of 21.9 per 1,000. The year before it
was 20.5. In 1895 it was 22 per 1,000. The death rate for
London in 1897 is, however, only 18.1. No doubt there are
many circumstances we can urge in extenuation of the unfortunate
fact that our real death rate is 3.8 per 1,000 above that
of London as a whole. Some of these facts are that our district
is a crowded and comparatively poor one, also that from its
central position we get an undue proportion of the moving,
thriftless, vagrant class, which is the despair of all sanitarians.
Again there is no doubt from the peculiar fact that as
Clerkenwell contains no large public institutions, large numbers
of our population, and those at the most unfavourable age
periods, are absent at the Census enumeration lodged in
infirmaries, workhouses, hospitals, &c. It follows that (he
population of Clerkenwell is not credited with these numbers
while the deaths from that class, which this year reaches the
large number of 485, are carefully recorded against us.
It is my intention, as soon as time permits, to ascertain the
number of Clerkenwell people living in the large institutions with
a view of securing a more correct and fair statement of the vital
statistics of the district, especially in the reports of the Registrar
General and the London County Council.
After, however, giving these various circumstances full and
due consideration it must still be admitted as a serious and
important fact not far removed from the truth, that 250
more deaths occurred in Clerkenwell than would have taken
place if our death rate had been the average rate for the whole
of the districts of the metropolis.