[Report 1908] / Medical Officer of Health, Cheltenham Borough.

  • Cheltenham (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1908] / Medical Officer of Health, Cheltenham Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    9/80 (page 9)
    is very decidedly of that character. The rainfall is very moderate and the sunshine quite up to the average for the West of England. The meteorological particulars are set out in detail in the appended Report by Mr. Saxby. Generally speaking, however, the climate is healthy, and there is nothing derivable from statistics to prove it unsuited to any class of person, or to be productive of any sort of illness. Out-of- door exercise and plenty of fresh air add to bodily vigour here as elsewhere. The Population : The character of the population, although in great measure consonant with the description of the town given above, is not wholly of a superior class. There are some extensive districts of poor streets, particularly in the North Ward, and the existence of these has a pre- judicial effect upon our health statistics. Numerically, the population is not a rapidly increasing one. and I have left it at the same number for last vear as / J for the previous year, namely 51,000. There has been a suggestion of making application to extend the boundary so as to include the urban parts of the suburban district of Charlton Kings, or possibly to make the boundary of the Municipal Borough co-terminous with that of the Parlia- mentary Borough, and a good argument could be made out for this inclusion. This would bring an addition to our population of some 4,000, and might elevate us into the dignity of a County Borough ; but apart from that, there would be an advantage in reducing the dual management to a single one, which is desirable upon the ground of a unified Public Health Administration. Bjrths and the Birth-Rate : There were 955 births in the year 1908. The male births preponderated, as is usual, the proportion being 493 boys to 462 girls. Of the 955 births, 63 were illegitimate, or one in fifteen. The birth-rate was 18*7 per 1,000 living inhabitants, which is 1 per 1,000 below the annual average for the last 10 years, but as much above the record low rate of the year before last. The birth-rate of the whole country has been falling for some years, and although ours has always been a low rate, it is not so low as in some other towns, and the difference in number between our births and deaths last year gives a moderate natural increase of population of nearly 300 in the year, J