Scarlet fever for ten years (1860-70) in the parish of St. George, Hanover Square / by C.J.B. Aldis.

  • Charles James Berridge Aldis
Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Scarlet fever for ten years (1860-70) in the parish of St. George, Hanover Square / by C.J.B. Aldis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    The heavy mortality in the central group (comprising the St. Giles’s, Strand, Ilolborn, Clerkenwell, East London, West London, and the City Districts), as well as in the more open and wealthy western districts, deserves to be carefully noted as an element in the study of its causes and means of limitation.” I have also prepared a table(*)from the Registrar-General’s Return, showing how the deaths from scarlet fever were distributed during ten years in the western districts of the Metropolis. It appears that St. Mary and St. John’s, Pad- dington produced 686 deaths, with a population of 75,784; Kensington Town alone 645, with a population of 51,910; Chelsea 678, population 63,439; St. George’s, Hanover- square, 600, population 87,771; Westminster 657, popula- tion 68,213 ; St. Martin-in-the-Fields 122, population 22,689; St. James’s 305, population 35,326. On looking over this table it may be asked,—Why should Belgravia have produced more deaths from scarlet fever than the Hanover and the Mayfair Districts together ? Firstly, it may be noticed that Belgravia contains a greater population than the In-Wards,—in fact, the greatest of the Western Sub-Districts,—which has increased for several years since the taking of the last census at the rate of 1,500 per- sons annually, who became occupiers of houses newly erected, affording accommodation to families many of whom occupied single rooms, and were of an age very susceptible of in- fection. The lower level of Belgravia, the geological features of the southern parts, and the vicinity of the Thames,—now greatly improved, with sewers tide-locked at intervals,—all may be in some measure accountable. The drainage, however, of the lower level sewer is rapidly pro- gressing, which, when completed, will remedy this last evil. I have already noticed the somewhat stationary population of the In-Wards. Still, the mortality from scarlet fever in
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