The Glasgow bills of mortality for 1841 & 1842 : drawn up by appointment and under the authority of the Lord Provost, magistrates and town council / by Alexander Watt.

Date:
1844
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Glasgow bills of mortality for 1841 & 1842 : drawn up by appointment and under the authority of the Lord Provost, magistrates and town council / by Alexander Watt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    04 39*78 per cent, of the whole increase that year were buried at the expense of these two institutions alone; and, from the data before me,* I find that, in the Barony, there was an increase of burials, at the expense of that parish, amounting to 359? or 15*34 per cent, of the whole increase; and from Govan there was an increase of burials within our bounds, at the expense of that parish, amounting to 137? or 5*85 per cent, of the whole increase. The increase of burials at the expense of these two parishes, and that of the institutions of Glasgow, therefore, amounts to 61 per cent, of the whole increase of burials in 1843; and had I been favoured with returns of the amount of burials at the expense of Gorbals parish, from the increase that has taken place in that burying-ground, it is very evident that I could have shown that the increase of burials at the public expense, in 1843, has amounted to about two-thirds of the increased amount of burials during that year; and it is further to be observed, that, with the exception of those grounds in which the public burials take place, the greatest inci’ease is iu St Mary’s, a burying-ground used almost exclusively by the labouring classes. It follows that above three-fourths of the whole increase of burials are thus accounted for; and, as it is known that the increase in some of the other burying-grounds in a great measure arises from the increased mortality among the poorer classes, we have indisputable evidence that 1843 was about as healthy a year as 1842 for the wealthy and those in comfortable circum- stances. It has been stated that the excess in the amount of mortality, in 1843, commenced in the month of May; that the funds for supplying work to the unemployed, and food to the destitute, were discontinued during that month, and that the mortality continued to increase till the end of October. It is here necessary to notice that the managers of the Town’s Hospital, in the most laudable manner, greatly extended the relief afforded by them to individuals and to families who were sick during that period ;f but no assist- ance was granted to those out of employment, or otherwise in destitute cir- cumstances, and who had no claim, by the law of Scotland, on the parochial funds. In November, I find that the mortality fell from 1072 (in October) to 906, and during December it fell to 728. On referring, however, to the documents furnished to me by Mr Hope, given in the Appendix, it will be seen that additional relief was, in October, again extended to individuals and families suffering from the late epidemic. I also find that, since that date, increased relief has been supplied through other quarters, especially through the missionaries, whose labours have been indefatigable in behalf of the poor. But what is of still greater importance, many branches of our trade and commerce continued steadily to increase. And I find, from docu- ments kindly furnished by Mr Fleming, secretary to the New Gas Company, that the contracts entered into by the Directors of that Company for pipes and other castings, amounting to £40,000, had by this time come into full operation; and consequently many of the operatives engaged in that trade, * Furnished to me by Mr M'Laren, Treasurer of the parish, and Mr Cassils of Govan parish. ..... f I have before me a valuable Table, drawn up by Bailie M'Kinlay, exhibiting under very distinct heads the amount of temporary relief to casual poor, and the number of patients under district surgeons each week, with other particulars which 'uill be rnoic particularly noticed in the Mortality Bill for 1843, now in progress. Were statistical tables of an equally distinct character published by our various public institutions, they would greatly facilitate our acquiring a correct knowledge of the condition of the people.