[Report 1900] / Medical Officer of Health, Royal Tunbridge Wells Borough.

  • Tunbridge Wells (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1900
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1900] / Medical Officer of Health, Royal Tunbridge Wells Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    5/24 (page 5)
    Correction of Death Rate and Foreign Mortality.—For many years it has been my custom to report specially upon the effect that the mortality among temporary residents has upon the vital statistics of the Borough, as I have found this to be so great that it demands attention. Over a period of ten years I have found it sufficient when deducted to bring down the mean Death Rate for deaths from all causes no less than ten per cent. Tills is of course mainly due to the fact that this Borough is selected by many people of advanced years, and by those who by reason of their suffering from chest affections and other debilitating affections, because of its salubrious climate and the many amelior¬ ating conditions such persons are able to meet with in this district, which are calculated to prolong invalid lives ; and naturally many who seek these benefits do so when in a hopeless state, admitting of nothing but a speedy ending. For the purpose of this calculation I have only taken out the deaths of persons resident for periods less than three months within the Borough, and this by no means includes all the mortality falling under this heading, though as I have pointed out it is sufficient to account for a tenth of the deaths that have taken place over a period of ten years. During the year 1899 the number of deaths falling under the head of foreign mortality was 42, and again in the year under notice the number was 42. Excluding these 42 deaths, or io'5 per cent of the total number, I find the deaths properly included in the mortality of the Borough numbered 357, which yields a Corrected Death Rate per thousand of the estimated population of 11*07, against 12-7, the returned Death Rate. This correction of the Death Rate has been resorted to by some of the Metropolitan districts, and provincial towns, for years past, but nowhere is it of so much importance as it is in a Borough of the character of Tunbridge Wells.