Living and Dying in Yorkshire: Mothers and their Children1. Introduction Before the 20th century a person had a greater chance of dying before their first birthday than at any other time throughout their life. Children were most at risk of developing diseases such as consumption, smallpox, convulsive fits, whooping-cough and measles. Combined with the risk of developing complications in the womb and at birth this made reaching the age of one quite difficult. The national picture of infant mortality (death under the age of one) suggests a steady fall in death rates from the early 18th to the early 20th centuries with a rapid drop occurring around the time of World War One. However, just looking at the national picture can be very misleading as the place where mothers lived had a huge bearing on their children's chances of surviving their first year of life. Infant death rates varied greatly across Yorkshire and the country as a whole.
Copyright 2003 Stuart Basten, History of Population and Social Structure, University of Cambridge |
|
