The Medical Officer of Health for the Strand reported in 1897: “The Strand District (as to health) compares favourably with other years. The result of your labours is a steady improvement in the health of the inhabitants.”
And the Medical Officer of Health for Islington in 1897 reported the death-rate as 15·80—the lowest since registration was introduced in 1837.
In Whitechapel “the policy of your Board has resulted in a considerable saving of human life.” The death-rate for the district in 1879 was 26·0 per 1,000, and in 1899 it was 19·3 per 1,000.
In Battersea the death-rate was 26·8 in 1871, and 17·6 in 1901.
But infantile mortality did not show a similar rate of improvement. In many parishes there was a decided improvement. In many, however, infantile mortality remained at a very high rate.
In Bethnal Green, in 1893, nearly half the total deaths were of children under five years of age—a figure which drew from the Medical Officer of Health the remark: “The ignorance of women of the working classes on the subject of infant feeding is colossal.” In 1896 it was 51·5 per cent., and in 1898 it was 49·7 per cent.
In Poplar the Medical Officer of Health wrote, in 1895: “I think it my duty to point out the terribly high rate of infant mortality….”
| In | Of 1,000 Births in 1895 Died under 1 Year. |
| Bow | 179 |
| Shoreditch | 199 |
| St. George’s-in-the-East | 196 |
| Limehouse | 202 |
“It is an awful state of affairs that so many young children die every year.”