Statistical reports on the sickness, mortality, & invaliding among the troops in the United Kingdom, the Mediterranean, and British America / prepared from the records [by A.M. Tulloch, H. Marshall, and T.G. Balfour] of the Army Medical Department and War Office returns.
- Great Britain. Army Medical Services
- Date:
- 1839
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Statistical reports on the sickness, mortality, & invaliding among the troops in the United Kingdom, the Mediterranean, and British America / prepared from the records [by A.M. Tulloch, H. Marshall, and T.G. Balfour] of the Army Medical Department and War Office returns. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![fresh meat, 2ibs. of salt beef, 27|oz. of salt pork, 8oz. of rice, 9oz. of sugar, 5oz. of cocoa, and If pint of pease. The rice is made into soup with the fresh meat, or the pease with the salt beef and pork for dinner, and the cocoa and sugar with the ration bread form the materials for breakfast. Vegetables are scarce and indifferent, and, except fish, all articles of consumption required by the soldier in addition to his rations are expensive, and, as the Colony is unable to supply its own wants, are likely to continue so. These facts embrace the principal details connected with the topography Of the Bermudas and the circumstances by which the health ot the troops is likely to have been affected; we have next to show what has been the extent of sickness and mortality among them. The admissions into hospital, and deaths, from 1817 to 1836 inclusive, so far as can be ascertained from the Medical Returns, have been as follows:— Years. Strength. Admissions. Deaths. Ratio per 1000 of Mean Strength. Admitted. Died. 1817 \ 439 287 4 654 9 1818 495 374 16 756 32 1819 414 528 99 1,275 239 1820 332 476 11 1,434 33 1821 349 414 6 1,186 17 1822 325 425 13 1,308 40 1823 288 390 8 1,354 28 1824 212 336 10 1,585 47 1825 268 598 4 2,231 15 1826 616 1,120 11 1,818 18 1827 666 1,154 9 1,733 14 1828 701 1,065 8 1,519 11 1S29 722 805 14 1,115 19 1830 769 1,153 9 ] ,199 12 1831 1,182 1,880 22 1,591 19 1832 1,147 1,258 25 1,097 22 1833 776 1,127 24 1,452 31 1834 714 955 17 1,338 24 1835 657 496 7 755 11 1836 649 515 21 794 32 Total . 11,721 15,356 338 • « • • Averag’e 586 768 17 1,310 | 28-8 | I. The Bermudas. Table I. Showing the admissions into Hospital and Deaths among the Troops serving in the Bermudas, From this Table we should conclude that, among every 1000 troops employed in this Com¬ mand, 1310 cases of sickness have occurred in the course of the year, that is, every soldier has on an average, been under treatment for some disease or other once in nine months. It is necessary to bear in mind, however, that this must be considerably under the actual extent of sickness, because as the troops at Ireland Island are treated in the Naval Hospital, the admissions and deaths among the detachment there have not been reported with the same accuracy as at Head Quarters, and there is good reason to believe that in some of the yeais they have been omitted altogether. So far as regards the admissions into hospital it is impossible to remedy this defect, but we are enabled to supply the total number ol deaths by the following reference to the War Office Returns:— Year . 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 CO Cl GO 18291830 1 1831! 1832 1 1833 oo GO 4^ 1835 1836 Total. Deaths reported ] in War Office r 5 17 102 11 7 16 10 10 4 12 10 13 16 n 62 31 27 19 9 24 416 Returns . . .' Deaths reported 1 in Medical Re-J 4 16 99 11 6 13 8 10 4 11 9 8 14 9 22 25 24 17 7 21 338 turns ... Difference. . 1 1 3 • • 1 3 2 • * • • 1 1 5 2 2 40 6 3 2 2 3 78 Of these 78 deaths which are not accounted for in the Medical Returns, 36 took place in 1831 by the loss of the transport brig Billow, with a detachment of the 81st on board. Of the remaining 42 the greater number are supposed to have occuiied at Iieland Island, and a few by accidents or violence, which the medical officers do not generally include in their Returns. _ According to the War Office Returns, the deaths during these 20 years have averaged 32$ per thousand of the strength annually, a very high ratio of mortality in a climate generally esteemed healthy; but a considerable part of this is attributable to the yellow fever of 1819, by w hich a fourth part of the force tvas cut off in a couple of months. Even deducting the extra mortality from that cause, however, the average of the other years considerably exceeds that of troops in Great Britain or the Mediterranean.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30449625_0143.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
