The 18th and 19th centuries in England were characterised by a period of increasing industrialisation of its urban centres. It was also one of widening social and health inequalities between the rich and the poor. Childhood is well‐documented as being a stage in the life course during which the body is particularly sensitive to adverse socio‐economic environments. This study therefore aims to examine the relationship between health and wealth through a comprehensive skeletal analysis of a sample of 403 children (0–17 years), of varying socio‐economic status, from four cemetery sites in London (c.1712–1854).Measurements of long bone diaphyseal length, cortical thickness, vertebral neural canal size, and the prevalence of a range of pathological indicators of health stress were recorded from the Chelsea Old Church (high status), St Benet Sherehog (middle status), Bow Baptist (middle status), and Cross Bones (low status) skeletal collections.Children from the low status Cross Bones site demonstrated deficient growth values, as expected. However, those from the high status site of Chelsea Old Church also demonstrated poor growth values during infancy. Fashionable child‐care practices (e.g. the use of artificial infant feeds and keeping children indoors) may have contributed to poor infant health amongst high status groups. However, differing health risks in the lower status group revealed the existence of substantial health inequality in London at this time. © 2016 The Authors International Journal of Osteoarchaeology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

ObjectiveTraditional methods of detecting growth disruption have focused on deficiencies in the diaphyseal length of the long bones. This study proposes the implementation of vertebral measurements (body height and transverse diameter of the neural canal) from non‐adults (0–17 years) as a new methodology for the identification of growth disruption.MethodsMeasurements of vertebral body height and transverse diameter were taken from 96 non‐adult skeletons and 40 adult skeletons from two post‐medieval sites in England (Bow Baptist, London and Coronation Street, South Shields). Non‐adult measurements were plotted against dental age to construct vertebral growth profiles through which inter‐population comparisons could be made.ResultsResults demonstrated that both sites experienced some growth retardation in infancy, evident as deficiencies in transverse diameter. However, analysis of vertebral body height revealed different chronologies of growth disruption between the sites, with a later age of attainment of skeletal maturity recorded in the Bow Baptist sample.DiscussionThese vertebral dimensions undergo cessation of growth at different ages, with transverse diameter being “locked‐in” by ∼1–2 years of age, while vertebral body height may continue to grow into early adulthood. These measurements can therefore provide complementary information regarding the timing of growth disruption within archaeological populations. Non‐adult vertebral measurements can increase our osteobiographical understanding of the timings of episodes of health stress, and allow for the analysis of growth when other skeletal elements are fragmentary. Am J Phys Anthropol 158:155–164, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.

Objective: Stark health inequalities exist in the present day between the North and South of England, with people in the South, overall, experiencing better health across a range of parameters (e.g., life expectancy and number of years spent in good health). Bioarchaeological studies of skeletal remains from cemeteries across this geographical divide have the ability to provide a temporal perspective on the etiology, longevity, and nature of this disparity. Methods: In total 574 non-adults (0-17 years) from six urban sites (c. AD 1711-1856) were analyzed from the North and South of England. Measurements of long bone length, cortical thickness, and vertebral dimensions were analyzed alongside both skeletal and dental palaeopathological data to assess patterns of disease and growth disruption between skeletal samples. Results: There were few significant differences in growth parameters between the six sites in relation to geographical location. However, the northern-based sample Coach Lane (North Shields) demonstrated some of the highest rates of pathology, with metabolic disease being particularly prevalent. Discussion: Northern and southern populations suffered alike from the detrimental environmental conditions associated with urban centers of the 18th-19th centuries. However, the elevated prevalence of vitamin D deficiency seen within the Coach Lane sample is indicative of a regionally specific risk that may be related to latitude, and/or the influence of particular industries operating in the North-East. K E Y W O R D S palaeopathology, post-medieval, stature, vertebral growth, vitamin D deficiency