Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Annual report on the public health of Finsbury for the year 1914
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5. The baby was 3 weeks old and the eighth child. Two
children had died. The family occupied three rooms. The father
was a labourer, in casual employment and now out of work.
There was very little food in the home. A rabbit was kept in a
hutch on the kitchen dresser, and was being fed on vegetable
refuse gathered by the children in market streets. It had been
purchased to serve eventually for a Christmas dinner, but unfortunately
it got voung ones just a few days before Christmas.
Weighing Centres.—There are three municipal weighing
centres in the Borough, held in the afternoon at 2.30 p.m., at the
following times and places.
Tuesday: St. Luke's Institute, Radnor Street.
Wednesday : The branch Library, 47, Penton Street.
Thursday: 268, St. John Street, Clerkenwell.
A summary of the meetings held in 1914 is appended:—
Centre. | No. of Meetings. | Attendances. | Average Attendance. | No. of Children. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Penton Street | 52 | 861 | 17 | 185 |
Radnor Street | 52 | 1,425 | 27 | 281 |
St. John Street | 52 | 1,473 | 38 | 278 |
Totals | 156 | 3,759 | 24 | 744 |
Many of the children when first brought to the weighing centres
were found to be fed chiefly on patent biscuits, boiled bread, or
other unsuitable food. The exclusively breast-fed children were,
however, in the majority, and were more than five times as many
as the others who were not breast-fed. Eleven per cent, of the
whole number of babies were breast-fed and received supplementary
feeds of cow's milk. In reoent years the proportion of
breast-fed children to the others in the borough has shown a
definite increase. On the first visits 66 per cent, of the babies
were fat and plump, others, amounting to 31 per cent., were
markedly thin. The residue, about 3 per cent, of the whole