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
Southwark 1919
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Southwark, Borough of]
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| Total excluding Phthisis. | Small Pox. | Measles. | Scarlet Fever. | Diphtheria. | Whooping Cough. | Influenza. | Enteric Fever. | Diarrhæa. | Phthisis. | Deaths under year to 1,000 Births. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 328 | - | 19 | 4 | 42 | 10 | 146 | 3 | 104 | 311 | - |
| The Zymotic | Rate per 1000 and Infant Rate. | |||||||||
| 1.82 | - | 0.10 | 0.02 | 0.23 | 0.05 | 0.81 | 0.01 | 0.57 | 1.72 | 95 |
POPULATION
The Registrar-General has estimated an increase of 18,003 in the
population of the borough for the year 1919.
The figure, 179,971, is still, in my opinion, much below the actual
population. Our houses are very full of people. We know there is
considerable legal overcrowding, which, under the present conditions, it
is impossible to remedy. We cannot turn whole families into the street,
and, even if we could, we should only make matters worse. Southwark
being a central district of working-class people will always be overcrowded.
We have no appreciable open space suitable for building
purposes, and if we had, it would be undesirable to increase the population
of an already overcrowded area.
The enormous increase in the wages has benefited the able-bodied
and fully equipped portion of our population, but those unfortunately
not in such an advantageous position are suffering acutely from the
general high prices all round, and many of them are in a destitute
condition.
It is probable that within the next twenty years the present and
future casual labouring class will find it absolutely necessary to equip
itself by some form of skilled labour, if it is to escape poverty.
The population of the several divisions of the Borough at each
Census since 1841, and also the estimated population for 1902, 1903,
1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916,
1917, 1918 and 1919.