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Data

Smallpox deaths as a share of all deaths in London

About this data

Source
Guy and Registrar-General (2017) – processed by Our World in Data
Last updated
December 4, 2017
Date range
1629–1902

Related research and writing

A dark blue background with a lighter blue world map superimposed over it. Yellow text that says Smallpox by Our World in Data

Smallpox

Sophie Ochmann, Saloni Dattani, and Max Roser

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

Guy and Registrar-General – Deaths from smallpox and all causes in London, 1629–1902

A compilation of historical mortality statistics for London, covering deaths from smallpox and from all causes between 1629 and 1902. The data is drawn from the following sources:

  • 1629–1881: Guy, W. (1882). Two Hundred and Fifty Years of Small Pox in London. Journal of the Statistical Society of London, 45(3), 399.
  • 1882–1885: Registrar-General. (1886). Summary of Weekly Returns (Annual Summary) of (marriages) Births, Deaths and Causes of Death in London and other great towns. Eyre and Spottiswoode.
  • 1886–1887: Registrar-General. (1888). Summary of Weekly Returns (Annual Summary) of (marriages) Births, Deaths and Causes of Death in London and other great towns. Eyre and Spottiswoode.
  • 1888–1899: Registrar-General. (1900). Summary of Weekly Returns (Annual Summary) of (marriages) Births, Deaths and Causes of Death in London and other great towns. Eyre and Spottiswoode.
  • 1900–1902: Registrar-General. (1903). Summary of Weekly Returns (Annual Summary) of (marriages) Births, Deaths and Causes of Death in London and other great towns. Eyre and Spottiswoode.
Retrieved on
December 4, 2017
Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2979319
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Guy, W. (1882). Two Hundred and Fifty Years of Small Pox in London. Journal of the Statistical Society of London, 45(3), 399. Combined with Registrar-General (1886, 1888, 1900, 1903), Summary of Weekly Returns (Annual Summary) of (marriages) Births, Deaths and Causes of Death in London and other great towns, Eyre and Spottiswoode. Compiled by Our World in Data (Sophie Ochmann, 2017).

A compilation of historical mortality statistics for London, covering deaths from smallpox and from all causes between 1629 and 1902. The data is drawn from the following sources:

  • 1629–1881: Guy, W. (1882). Two Hundred and Fifty Years of Small Pox in London. Journal of the Statistical Society of London, 45(3), 399.
  • 1882–1885: Registrar-General. (1886). Summary of Weekly Returns (Annual Summary) of (marriages) Births, Deaths and Causes of Death in London and other great towns. Eyre and Spottiswoode.
  • 1886–1887: Registrar-General. (1888). Summary of Weekly Returns (Annual Summary) of (marriages) Births, Deaths and Causes of Death in London and other great towns. Eyre and Spottiswoode.
  • 1888–1899: Registrar-General. (1900). Summary of Weekly Returns (Annual Summary) of (marriages) Births, Deaths and Causes of Death in London and other great towns. Eyre and Spottiswoode.
  • 1900–1902: Registrar-General. (1903). Summary of Weekly Returns (Annual Summary) of (marriages) Births, Deaths and Causes of Death in London and other great towns. Eyre and Spottiswoode.
Retrieved on
December 4, 2017
Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2979319
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Guy, W. (1882). Two Hundred and Fifty Years of Small Pox in London. Journal of the Statistical Society of London, 45(3), 399. Combined with Registrar-General (1886, 1888, 1900, 1903), Summary of Weekly Returns (Annual Summary) of (marriages) Births, Deaths and Causes of Death in London and other great towns, Eyre and Spottiswoode. Compiled by Our World in Data (Sophie Ochmann, 2017).

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Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Smallpox deaths as a share of all deaths in London”. Our World in Data (2026). Data adapted from Guy and Registrar-General. Retrieved from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260511-092124/grapher/deaths-from-smallpox-in-london.html [online resource] (archived on May 11, 2026).

How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

Guy and Registrar-General (2017) – processed by Our World in Data

Full citation

Guy and Registrar-General (2017) – processed by Our World in Data. “Smallpox deaths as a share of all deaths in London” [dataset]. Guy and Registrar-General, “Deaths from smallpox and all causes in London, 1629–1902” [original data]. Retrieved May 16, 2026 from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260511-092124/grapher/deaths-from-smallpox-in-london.html (archived on May 11, 2026).

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Data URL (CSV format)
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-from-smallpox-in-london.csv?v=1&csvType=full&useColumnShortNames=false
Metadata URL (JSON format)
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-from-smallpox-in-london.metadata.json?v=1&csvType=full&useColumnShortNames=false

Code examples

Examples of how to load this data into different data analysis tools.

Excel / Google Sheets
=IMPORTDATA("https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-from-smallpox-in-london.csv?v=1&csvType=full&useColumnShortNames=false")
Python with Pandas
import pandas as pd
import requests

# Fetch the data.
df = pd.read_csv("https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-from-smallpox-in-london.csv?v=1&csvType=full&useColumnShortNames=false", storage_options = {'User-Agent': 'Our World In Data data fetch/1.0'})

# Fetch the metadata
metadata = requests.get("https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-from-smallpox-in-london.metadata.json?v=1&csvType=full&useColumnShortNames=false").json()
R
library(jsonlite)

# Fetch the data
df <- read.csv("https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-from-smallpox-in-london.csv?v=1&csvType=full&useColumnShortNames=false")

# Fetch the metadata
metadata <- fromJSON("https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-from-smallpox-in-london.metadata.json?v=1&csvType=full&useColumnShortNames=false")
Stata
import delimited "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-from-smallpox-in-london.csv?v=1&csvType=full&useColumnShortNames=false", encoding("utf-8") clear