Report on the mortality of cholera in England, 1848-49.

  • Farr, William, 1807-1883.
Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the mortality of cholera in England, 1848-49. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    18/506
    Registration volumes which for that year contained 440853 deaths. The roll of deaths was in the following form :— Popuktion. No. District. Sub-district. 1831 184I 458 ;2 Nantwich. Nantwich. 8560 9431 Date of Death. Place. Sex. Age. Profession. Cause of Death. 1849. July 10 Wych House Bank, Nantwich M. 6 Salt-boiler's Sou Cholera, 13 hours. 9 Welch Row ,, F. 5 Confectioner's Daughter Cholera, 6 hours. 10 Vauxhall , , M. 72 Labourer .... Cholera, 28 hours. Cholera, brouglit on for want of the conimon necessaries of life.— Inquest. 8 Wood Street ,, F. 48 Hasketmaker's Wife 10 Wood Street ,, M. 67 Shoemaker .... Cholera.—Inquest. The v/hole forms a large mass of manuscript, which contains the particulars of 72180 deaths. Upon inquiry it was found tiiat the list of persons who died of the two diseases would fill a tliick octavo volume of about 2500 pages. Three courses were open ; (i) to publish those facts simply ; (2) to publish the tabuloi'; abstracts in detail; or (3) to publish the abstracts and the salient facts relating to each locality in a condensed form. Tiie publication of the cases in detail would have been attended with several advantages ; it would have enabled the medical men of the country to study the particular facts in their respective districts, surrounded by the circumstances which affect and modify the mortality ; and the publication of an extended tabular summary of the daily deaths in each of the 2189 sub-districts of the country would also have possessed interest. As the work on e'tlier plan would, however, have been exceedingly voluminous, the tliird course was adopted : in the meantime the manuscript list of the 72180 cases, and the extended tabular abstracts, are preserved among the records of the General Reg-ister Olfice, and will ahvavs be accessible to the local inquirer, as well as to the general student of this great and extraordinary epidemic. Tlie first of the following series of tables shows that 1057 males and 877 females died from cholera during the year 1848, and that of those numbers 612 niiiles and 493 females, died in the three months of October, November, and December. The numbers' in each county and division are shown separately (pp. i—2). The weekly deaths from cholera in each division, and the ages at death in the last three months, are added (pp. 3—4). The second series of tables shows of the 53293 deaths from cholera, and 18887 from diarrhoea during the year 1849, how many occurred in each of the 11 divisions, 44 counties (or groups of counties), and 623 di'^tricts of England (pp. 5—19). The districts are here arranged in the same topographical order as is adhered to in all the Reports of this Office. Kach district stands in its place, although no death from cholera was registered within its limits ; the population of 1841 is set forth in a distinct column, and shows the lowest numbers that could have been exposed to the attacks of the disease. In the towns, and in the manufacturing and raining districts, the population was, of course, much greater in 1849 than in 1841. The third is a remarkable series of tables. It shows the number of deaths from cholera and from diarrhoea on each day of the year 1849, in all England, in 11 divisions, and in 44 registration counties (pp. 20—107). Thus the march of the epidemic through every county can be followed day by day. In the returns that have previously been made of the mortality of cholera in this and in other countries, only the deatlis from that disease in parts known to be severely infected have been inserted, and it is evident that under such a system—based on imperfect registration—many deaths must have escaped observation. But the causes ot nearly all the deaths in England are registered, and all the deaths of 1848 and 1849 are