Dr. W.W.E. Fletcher's report to the Local Government Board on the urban districts of Longton and Fenton, in the county of Staffordshire, in reference to long-sustained and highly-fatal prevalence of diphtheria therein / [Wilfred W.E. Fletcher].

  • Fletcher, Wilfred W. E.
Date:
1898
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. W.W.E. Fletcher's report to the Local Government Board on the urban districts of Longton and Fenton, in the county of Staffordshire, in reference to long-sustained and highly-fatal prevalence of diphtheria therein / [Wilfred W.E. Fletcher]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    OFFICIAL COPY. Dr. W. W. E. Fletcher’s Report to the Local Government Board on the Urban Districts of Long-ton and Fenton, in the County of Staffordshire, in reference to long-sustained and highly*fatal prevalence of Diphtheria therein. Richd. Thorne Thorne, Medical Department, January 28th, 1899. Previously to the year 1896 diphtheria had not shown any marked incidence on the Urban Districts of Longton and Fenton, their annual death-rates per 1,000 inhabitants, from that disease, having been, for many years, below the corresponding death-rates for England and Wales and for the 6, towns of the Registrar-General. I have deemed it better to draw comparison with these 67 large towns, rather than with the group of (33) largest towns of the Registrar- General, having regard to the populations and local circumstances of Lon and Fenton. During 1896, however, diphtheria prevailed to such an extent that the death-rate therefrom in that year in each of these two districts increased to, approximately, double that for England and Wales, and to more than double that for*the 67 large towns. In the following year, 1897 the prevalence of the disease further increased, so that the Longton diphtheria death-ratefor that year amount to eleven times, and that for Fenton to eight tunes as much as the correspon g rates for England and Wales, and for the 67 large towns ; while m the first quarter of 1898 the diphtheria mortality m Longton was equivalent to an annua death-rate fourteen times as great, and the corresponding mortality m Fenton to an annual death-rate nine times as great as that for England and Wales, and ten and seven times, respectively, that for the 67 large towns.* Under these circumstances 1 received instructions to make enquiry into the causes of this sustained and increasing prevalence of the disease, and I have to report as follows : Lonlton and Fenton are adjoining urban districts, and each forms one of the five sub-districts of the Stoke-on-Trent Registration District, The populations of the two districts comprise almost entirety people of the w 01 * S classes. The chief industries are pottery-making, coal-mmmg, iron-working, and brick-making. LONGTON. a. Deneral Sanitary Condition. The Borough of Longton, incorporated in 1865, comprises an area of 1,948 acres ; and had, at the census of 1891, a population of o4,oiy persons. Geologically, the surface of the district is undulating, and overlies the Coal Measures, excepting in the south-eastern portion, m the neighbourhood of Noi - macot. where it rests on the Bunter Beds of the Lew Red Sandstone formation. Water Supply— The water-supply is constant, and is derived from the works of the North Staffordshire Water Company .~j~__ * A table illustrating these facts, Table I., will be found on p. 5. P t The water distributed by this Company is “ obtained . . . from four' sou cns supply, (a) Meir; (6) Hatton, obtained by pumping ; (c) Normacot; and (d) Weston Coyney,by piping natural springs, all rising in an extremely pervious Bunter bed of Red Sandstone ; water apparently liable to contamination from sewage «from Me^r source only submitted to filtration.” Dr. R. Deane bweetmg, p. 5 , pi (■ . Sanitary Survey) to the Report of the Medical Officer of the Local Government Board, 1893-1895. ____ PRINTED FOR HER MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE, By DARLING & SON, Ltd., 1-3, Great St. Thomas Apostle, E.C. And to be purchased, either directly or through any Bookseller from EYRE & SPOTTISWOODE, East Harding Street, Fleet Street, E.C., and 32 Abingdon Street Westminster, S.W.; or JOHN MENZIES & Co., 12, Hanover Street, Edinburgh, and 90, West Nile Street, Glasgow ; or No. 136. 1898. Price One Shilling. ■■MnKXDK*; i i — ■ - - i n i —- it WELLCOME LIBRARY jj General Collections +P A