[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Southwark, The Vestry of the Parish of St. George the Martyr].

  • St. George the Martyr (Southwark, London, England). Parish Council.
Date:
[1857]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Southwark, The Vestry of the Parish of St. George the Martyr]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Report of the Medical Officer of Health, for the fourth Quarter, 1857. 3 circumstances being equal, we have gained in population 158 during the quarter, that being the excess of births over deaths. 170 died under ten years of age—that is, half the total deaths;—the diseases I need not farther specify, they are all recorded. I have been curious to note the number of very aged persons who died in this quarter: there were 22 from 70 to 80; eight from 80 to 90; three at 93; and two at 94 years of age. Twenty-nine of these were, so far as I can gather, of the poorer or hard working class, so that hard work and a certain amount of privation, are more favourable to a long life than the being in so-called easy circumstances. 1 append the analyses of the waters supplied by the Companies to this Parish. November. Total Impurity. Organic Impurity. Lambeth Company 21.56 1.48 Southwark Company 22.66 1.56 December. Lambeth Company 20.84 56 Southwark Company 20.72 1.24 The seventh Table shews the amount of Sanitary work under hand during the quarter. There are considerable arrears, partly, no doubt, because of unavoidable difficulties, and the reluctance of parties to do the required work; partly because we are very properly slow to coerce, and prefer to call again and again ; giving, indeed, more than sufficient time. The reluctance arises, no doubt, from a belief in the minds of some persons that, with enough delay and obstruction, they may escape the work altogether. This, of course, brings a very large amount of work upon us, and occasionally goes far to embarrass us. As to burial vaults, noticed in this Table, and which have been reported as without improvement from the first: one is in good condition, one requires very slight improvement, but the third, namely, the parish church, requires a speedy and complete alteration. The addresses of places where the work is unfinished, are appended, as usual. (Signed) WILLIAM BENDLE. • Dr. Thomson. TABLE 1.—Quarterly Mortality. / 1855 1856 1857 Average Mortality of the Quarters from 1845 to 1854 First Quarter ... 304 323 373.6 Second ... 292 296 294.8 Third ... 350 279 431.1 or 383.1 fourth „ to December 31 290 284 326 excluding Cholera. 391.8