[Report 1915] / Medical Officer of Health, Royal Tunbridge Wells Borough.

  • Tunbridge Wells (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1915
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1915] / Medical Officer of Health, Royal Tunbridge Wells Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    35/44 (page 33)
    number of persons per acre is 8.4. From figures obtained in tlie census of 1911, the total population of all ages was 35,703, the number of inhabited liouses was 7,671, the aver¬ age number of persons per house being 4.6. Births. The total number of births registered in the district was 544, and the number after inward and outward transfers is 556, the rate being 15.2 per thousand as com¬ pared with the rate of 13.8 per thousand in 1914, which was the lowest figure ever recorded. 269 boys were born and 287 girls. Deaths. 537 deaths were registered in the Borough, and after correction for inward and outward transfers, the num¬ ber of deaths of inhabitants was 556; this, calculated upon the Begistrar-Gfeneral’s new figure for the population, gives a death rate of 16.1 per thousand as compared with the death rate of 13.8 in 1914. The figure for correction supplied by the Begistrar-General, in order that it may be compared in age and sex constitution to the death rate in the kingdom gener¬ ally, is 0.8683. Applying this correction, the Tunbridge Wells death rate, 14.4 per thousand, is thus unusually high. I append some remarks as to the causes of the 556 deaths occurring amongst the inhabitants of the Borough. 43.4o/o were deaths of those who had already passed the allotted span of 70 years, \vhile 332, or 60o/o, were deaths of persons aged 60 years and upwards. The deaths for the year con¬ siderably exceeded the average number, and the number in the first quarter, 194, was over one-third of the total. The rainfall during the winter months, taking the period from November 24th, 1914, to February 19th, 1915, was 19.29 inches, and was much in excess of anything previously re¬ corded. I am of opinion that the damp and chilled condition produced by the soaking ground accounted for the large number of deaths from lung trouble, and taken in conjunction with' the worries associated with the war, was responsible for the lowered vitality which resulted in tlie unusual number of deaths from “ old age.” A Table is' enclosed showing the