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
Clerkenwell 1899
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Clerkenwell, St. James and St. John]
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Turning now to the infantile mortality of Clerkenwell we find that taking all the infant deaths, including those at one year into consideration (intra-parochial and extra-parochial) the causes of death were as follows:—
| Diarrhœa. | Prematurity. | Bronchitis. | Pneumonia. | Convulsions. | Suffocated in Bed. | Whooping Cough. | Meningitis. | Measles, Diphtheria, Scarlet Fever, Croup, Tonsilitis, Chicken Pox,&c. | Accidents. | Tuberculosis. | Miscellaneous. | Totals. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goswell | 30 | 20 | 11 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 3 | 1 | .. | 1 | 5 | 94 |
| St. James | 30 | 20 | 10 | 11 | 8 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 3 | .. | .. | 1 | 95 |
| Amwell | 31 | 40 | 22 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 4 | .. | 6 | 7 | 153 |
| Extra-Parochial | 17 | 7 | 18 | 16 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 18 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 96 |
| Clerkenwell Total | 108 | 87 | 61 | 42 | 27 | 23 | 19 | 16 | 26 | 3 | 9 | 17 | = 438 |
| The total of 438 is composed of 395 deaths under 1 year and 43 deaths returned as at 1 year. | |||||||||||||
Owing to the high death-rate due to Diarrhœa which comes in
the third quarter of the year that quarter contains most infant
deaths. Old age, on the contrary, suffers mostly in the winter half
of the year.
The time of year at which the infants under one year died is shown in the following table:—
| January. | February. | March. | April. | May. | June. | July. | August. | September. | October. | November. | December. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intra-Parochial | 22 | 28 | 30 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 36 | 57 | 41 | 31 | 18 | 35 |
| Extra-Parochial | 4 | 8 | 13 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 3 | 8 | 8 |
| 105 | 64 | 166 | 103 | |||||||||
Prematurity is a cause of infant mortality, which is nearly twice
as high in towns as in rural districts. Convulsions is really more
of a sympton than a disease, and is a condition brought about by
the irritation of dentition, improper food, parasites, etc. Twentythree
deaths were caused by suffocation in bed due to overlaying
by parents. Eighteen of these 23 deaths occurred on Saturday,
Sunday, or Monday nights.
Dr. J. S. Tew has recently declared "that the better housing of
the poorer classes will be the chief means in the future of checking