Report to the General Board of Health on a preliminary inquiry into the sewerage, drainage, and supply of water, and the sanitary condition of the inhabitants of the borough of Newbury, in the county of Berks. / by William Lee, Superintending Inspector.

  • Lee, William, 1774 or 1775-1853.
Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report to the General Board of Health on a preliminary inquiry into the sewerage, drainage, and supply of water, and the sanitary condition of the inhabitants of the borough of Newbury, in the county of Berks. / by William Lee, Superintending Inspector. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ham, &c., 16‘20; in Newbury district, 18-51; but in the borougli of Newbmy tlie average of the whole ten years is 25-77. The proportionate number of cliildren destroyed during infancy is a sanitary test much relied on. In the sixty-one districts cpioted, the proportion of deaths of infants under 1 year old to tlie births is 1 in 11 ; in Cookham, &c. it is 1 in 9 ; in Newbury district, &c., 1 in 9 ; in the borough of Newbury the average of ten years is 1 in 7. An ex- amination of the columns headed Proportion per cent, of deaths at each interval of death to the total deaths,” and a comparison with the places in a better sanitary condition, will show that there is not a great preponderance of mor- tality in Newbuiy at any specific period of life, but that the increased number of deaths pervades all ages, and is in general and constant operation among the inhabitants. It is not the less true, however, that a very considerable proportion of the excessive deaths are from epidemic diseases, which, in the opinion of all medical men, are more entirely within human means of prevention than diseases of other classes. Tried by this test, the sanitary condition of the borough of Newbury is very low. In the sixty-one registration districts given, the propor- tion of deaths from epidemics to the population is 1 in 449. In Cookham, &c., 1 in 489 ; in Newbury district, &c., 1 in 407; in the borough of Newbury the statistics show that the annual average for the past ten years is 1 in 149. The average age of all who have died shows a declension as the eye proceeds down the column. The sixty-one dis- tricts give 37 years and 5 months ; Cookham, &c., 35 years and 11 months ; Newbuiy district, 35 years and 2 months; the borough of Newbury, 34 years and 5 months. So, again, of those who have survived to years of maturity. The average age of adults, at death, in the sixty-one dis- tricts, is 60 years; in Cookham, k,c., 57 years; in Newbury district, &c., 58 years and 4 months : wliile in the borougli of Newbmy the average of the whole ten 3’ears is only 55 years and 9 months. Every one of these excessive deaths involves the loss of luneral expenses, wliich, for fees, mourning, &c. would be estimated very moderately at ol. each. It is foimd by experience, also, as a general fact, that every death in excess, for want of sanitary arrangements, represents 28 cases of sickness in excess, arising from the same causes, and costing, on the average, II each at least, for medical attendance and loss of time.