C is for Dr Thomas Francis Corcoran
An entry in ‘A-Z of Loughborough’ under the letter C, begins as follows:
“Thomas
Francis Corcoran, born in Ireland, qualified to practice medicine in the early
1880s. Following this, Dr Corcoran moved to England, working first at Mansfield
Woodhouse, and then in West Chelsea, before moving north to work first as the
medical officer of health for the Rochdale Union, and then for Over Darwen.
Dr Corcoran
came to Loughborough to take up the position of senior medical officer to the
Medical Aid Association, based in Unity House…”
 |
| Unity House on Fennel Street |
 |
| Plaque commemorating Nora and Kathleen Corcoran |
In his role
as the Medical Officer of Health in Loughborough, Dr Corcoran authored a number
of annual reports which were provided to the Council which acted as the Urban
Sanitary Authority for the Borough of Loughborough. Let’s have a closer look at
one of these[i],
the one which reports on death, disease, and illness in Loughborough in the
year ending 31st December, 1894[ii].
The report is 5 A4 pages long, and Dr Corcoran begins his report in a most
encouraging tone:
“Gentlemen,
The health of
the Borough has been exceptionally good during the year 1894. I have much
pleasure in reporting that the death rate of this year is the lowest for an
entire year which has ever been recorded in Loughborough. The Zymotic death-rate
is also the lowest of which I can find any record. The greater healthiness of
the town is also indicated by the diminished number of cases of infectious
sickness notified during the year; these are less than one-third of the number
notified in 1893.
MORTALITY
The number of
deaths registered during the year was 317, but 11 of these deaths were persons
not belonging to the Borough, who died at the Hospital and Workhouse. After
deducting these we get the corrected mortality, which is 306, or a death rate
of 15.9 per thousand of the population[iii],
which is 3 per 1,000 below the average death rate of the last six years.
The total
number of deaths from Zymotic [infectious] diseases was 29. This is a Zymotic death rate of
1.5, which is only about half the average of the last six years.
The Zymotic deaths were as follows:
|
Cause of death |
Number of deaths |
|
Diarrhoea |
17 |
|
Whooping
Cough |
9 |
|
Erysipelas |
1 |
|
Puerperal
Fever |
1 |
|
Croup |
1 |
BIRTHS
The total
number of births registered was 586. This is an annual birth rate of 30.4 per thousand
of population, which is about 1 per thousand below the average.
INFECTIOUS
DISEASES NOTIFICATION
126 cases of infectious disease were notified during the year, against 471 in 1893. They were as follows:
|
Disease |
Cases in 1893 |
Cases in 1894 |
Difference |
|
Small-pox |
4 |
0 |
-4 |
|
Scarlet
fever |
400 |
92 |
-318 |
|
Diphtheria |
3 |
2 |
-1 |
|
Croup |
3 |
0 |
-3 |
|
Typhoid Fever |
15 |
6 |
-9 |
|
Puerperal
Fever |
6 |
6 |
0 |
|
Erysipelas |
40 |
20 |
-20 |
The town was
quite free from this disease during the year. On June 4th a tramp … slept in
the ‘Casual’
department of the workhouse; he went on to Leicester next day, where he
was found to be suffering from small-pox. The casual wards [at Loughborough
Workhouse] were forthwith disinfected at my suggestion.
There were 30
cases of this disease in an infectious condition in the Borough at the
beginning of the year. The number of fresh cases steadily decreased to the end
of November, when the town was to all appearances quite free from infectious disease;
however, a mild case of two of scarlet fever must have remained unnoticed, for
during the month of December eight fresh cases of scarlet fever were notified. They
were all of a mild type, and are now convalescent. Strict isolation was carried
out in each case. There was no death from this disease.
Only two
cases of this disease were notified, as against three in 1893, 11 in 1892, and
22 in 1892. This steady diminution in the amount of diphtheria points to an improved
sanitary condition of the town.
This fatal
complaint is closely allied to diphtheria. I am glad to be able to report that
the town was quite free from it during the year.
Six cases of
this disease were notified. This, like diphtheria, is essentially a filth disease,
and it is very satisfactory to notice how the number of cases has steadily diminished
since 1890. When the Notifications Act came into operation, and since which
time only we have had accurate information of the number of cases which have
occurred.
In that year,
1890, from the 1st of March to the end of the year, 20 cases were reported; in
1891, the number fell to 14; in 1892 still lower, to eight; in 1893 there were
15 cases notified, eight of which were imported from Stanford [Stanford-on-Soar], leaving only seven
for Loughborough; and this year, as I have stated above, the number is reduced
to six, and of these, two were imported from Leicester, one to the workhouse
and one to Granville Street. Of the four cases which originated in
Loughborough, one was attributed to a filthy midden, one to a broken pan-closet,
one to impure drinking water, and for the fourth there was no visible cause. In
each case, insanitary conditions found existing were reported to the Highway and
sanitary Committee, and orders made for remedying the same.
The cases
were carefully isolated, and instructions given on the use of disinfectants,
etc.. There was no spread from any of them, and all of them recovered
satisfactorily.
Six cases of
this disease occurred during the year, but all of them recovered, except one.
They were promptly notified, and the attendants were cautioned to abstain from attending
other confinement cases for a reasonable period, consequently there was no sequence
of cases this year. Each of these cases seems to have arisen independently.
The town has
been free from this order during 1894. There was rather a serious epidemic at
Wymeswold in the Autumn, and a few cases occurred at Cotes, and as I was
apprehensive that the infection might reach the schools in the town, I recommended
the teachers of the infant schools to exclude children suffering from the first
symptoms of measles, which are the same as those of a common cold, namely, sneezing and running at the
eyes and nose. This was done simply as a precautionary measure.
Twenty cases
of this disease occurred during the year, against 40 in 1893. One death was due
to this cause, I see no advantage in the inclusion of this disease in the list
of notifiable ones.
This disorder
seems to be endemic in Loughborough. The town has not been entirely free from
it since I have been Medical Officer of Health. I do not think it has any relation
to sanitation. It often proves fatal to infants under one year. Nine deaths
were registered during the year as due to this cause. Children suffering from
this disorder, or coming from houses where it exists, are not allowed to attend
school.
There is a satisfactory
diminution in the number of deaths from diarrhoea, 17 having been registered,
against 39 in 1893. The cooler weather which existed throughout the summer was
not so productive of diarrhoea as the hot summer of 1893. Still the number of
deaths this year is well up on the average, and indicates the advisability of perseverance
in the course hitherto adopted by this Authority of taking such steps as will
prevent soakage of filth into the earth.
The more I
study this subject, the more I become convinced that the principal cause of
infantile diarrhoea is the inhalation by infants of gases exhaled from the
filth saturated surface soil of towns in war weather. Improper food, no doubt,
has much to do with it, but it is remarkable how year after year this mortality
occurs in the hot months, with scarcely a death from the end of October to the
beginning or middle of June. In the rural districts surrounding this town there
is scarcely any diarrhoea. In my annual reports of 1890 and 1893 I have gone at
great length into this subject."
Dr Corcoran’s report doesn’t end there, but sadly I have run out of time!
Pop back to the blog next week and see what he has to say about the local water supply, scavenging, and sewage
disposal, and what else he does in his position as Medical Officer of Health in
1894.
[i] I have transcribed
the report word-for-word, but have converted some of the numbers to tables, for
ease of reading and comparison. Original Source: [Report 1894] / Medical Officer of Health, Loughborough Borough. Loughborough (England). Borough Council. 1894. Deposited at the Wellcome Collection Library and associated with a Creative Commons Licence 4.
[ii] Please note, this
report is from 1894, and as such reflects the medical knowledge of the time, as
such, perceived causes of diseases and illness at that time, and the treatment
of such, may have changed over time.
[iii] At the time of the 1891 census returns, the population of Loughborough was running at 18,196
_____________________________
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Lynne
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