Report on the health of the Borough of Birmingham, for the year 1882 : also, on the proceedings taken under the act for the prevention of adulteration of articles of food and drink / by Alfred Hill.

  • Alfred Hill
Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the health of the Borough of Birmingham, for the year 1882 : also, on the proceedings taken under the act for the prevention of adulteration of articles of food and drink / by Alfred Hill. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The distribution of the deaths among the eight Registra- g'eSf4Tng tion Sub-Districts during the past four years, and the Registration Death-rate of each Sub-District in the annexed Table:— during 1882, are given Sub-Districts. 1st Quar. 2nd Quar. 3rd Quar. 4th Quar. Total Total Total Total Death Deaths Deaths Deaths Deaths 1882. 1881. 1880. 1879. Rate 1882. Ladywood .. . 236 206 254 275 971 907 892 1,026 18-1 St. Thomas .. . 205 199 217 197 818 783 809 887 211 St. Martin .. . 200 198 219 246 863 761 870 868 20-8 St. George .. . 412 356 391 408 1,567 1,525 1,453 1,649 24-3 All Saints' .. . 403 376 339 383 1,501 1,436 1,359 1,484 29-2 Deritend . 382 299 340 344 1,365 1,312 1,443 1,394 16-8 Duddeston .. . 264 261 289 286 1,100 988 1,024 1,071 191 Edgbaston .. . 58 55 63 64 240 226 238 271 101 A comparison of the figures for the years 1881 and 1882 shows that the number of deaths has risen in each Registration Sub-District. The rise has been proportionately greatest, however, in the Sub-Districts of St. Martin and Duddeston, amounting in the first-named District to 13 per cent. In comparing the Death-rates of the several Registration Sub-Districts allowance should be made in several of the Districts for the occurrence in them of deaths in Public Institutions situated within their area. As the persons who die in these Institutions come from Causes of every district in the neighbourhood, it is manifestly unfair, appearing^too for purposes of comparison, to debit the district in which ^jfiJ^]^gJ^[^fg^ such an Institution or Institutions may be placed with all such ' ' ^• deaths. It is impossible, however, to obtain the information necessary to allocate the deaths registered in these Institutions, and belonging to the Borough, to the districts in which they would have occurred, if they had not been removed from their homes, and there is consequently no alternative but to eliminate all such deaths from the calculations necessary for comparing the total Death-rate of one district with another. Thus, by disregarding the deaths in the Children's Hospital, the Death- rate of Ladywood Sub-District is brought down from 18*1 to 17'2, and by similarly treating the deaths in the Queen's and General Hospitals the Death-rates of St. Thomas's and St. George's Sub-Districts stand respectively at 17'9 and 20*5, instead of at 21*1 and 24-3, if no such allowance be made. On reference to the preceding Table, it will be noticed that the Death-rate of All Saints' Sub-District is made to appear unusually great. This high figure depends on the circumstance that the Workhouse, Asylum, Borough Hospital and Gaol are all situated within the confines of this Sub-District. If the Deaths in these Institutions be subtracted, the Death-rate is reduced from 29*2 to only 16-4.