MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH REPORT
The 1895 report of Alexander Blyth, the Medical Officer of Health for St Marylebone in West London, includes this table detailing the population, births and new cases of infectious sickness. The report has been digitised and is available to view for free on the Wellcome Library’s website at wellcomelibrary.org/moh
1 Local Health Board
The reports were compiled for the local health board, partly to gauge where money should be spent on public health.
2 Parishes
Figures for the five different parishes in the sanitary district of St Marylebone are shown for the purposes of comparison.
3 Population
The Medical Officer of Health used the official census statistics to get an accurate population count across the district.
4 Disease
In 1895, the infectious disease with the most cases was scarlatina, followed by erysipelas, a highly contagious skin disease.
5 Typhus
There were no cases of typhus in St Marylebone in 1895; the disease was declining in London from the mid-1880s onwards.
6 Removed From Their Homes
London had a network of public isolation or fever hospitals where the most infectious patients could receive treatment.