§ MR. HOPWOODasked the President of the Local Government Board to be so good as to inform the House, On what authority his Department states the mortality from small pox to have been 3,000 per 1,000,000 for England and Wales at the latter end of the last century; and, whether the Department possesses any Return, record, or authority showing the number of population in England and Wales, or the number of deaths from small pox there, between the years 1770 and 1799?
Mr. GEORGE RUSSELLMy hon. and learned Friend, in his Question, on May 1, asked whether "3,000 per 1,000,000 is assumed to have been the rate of mortality from small pox in the last century?" The answer was that it had been "estimated" that the death-rate had been as stated. The authorities for the estimate were Dr. Lettsom and Sir Gilbert Blane. Until the present century there was no Census of the population of England and Wales, nor was the system of civil registration introduced, and consequently nothing more than an estimate could be given. As regards London itself, the bills of mortality afford material for a more precise calculation; and two tables as to the mortality from small pox, which were compiled respectively by Dr. Green how and Dr. Parr, will be found in the Appendix to the Report of the Select Committee in 1871 on the Vaccination Acts. According to these tables, the small pox death-rate in London was 3,044 per 1,000,000 in 1746–55; and 350 5,020 per 1,000,000 in 1771-80. In 1871-80 the mortality, according to the Returns of the Registrar General, was 460 per 1,000,000.