London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Finsbury 1914
Annual report on the public health of Finsbury for the year 1914
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56
Dinner Centres.—There are four dinner centres in the
Borough, all conducted by voluntary agencies. The addresses
are:—
128, Pentonville Road.
36 King Square.
Claremont Mission, Pentonville.
162 Lever Street.
At all these centres, nursing mothers may obtain sound nourishing
dinners for a penny or twopence. At three of the establishments,
necessitous mothers specially recommended may obtain
free dinners.
PUERPERAL FEVER.
This disease is compulsorily notifiable by Section 55 of the
Public Health (London) Act, 1891. In 1914, there were 11 notifications
and & deaths. The statistics for previous years are
appended—
| Years. | 1901-5 | 1906-10 | 1911-13 | 1914 | Totals. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nutifications | 30 | 27 | 29 | 11 | 97 |
| Deaths | 18 | 17 | 12 | 5 | 52 |
The number of notifications, 13, was highest in 1913. The 11
cases in the present year were attended, six by medical students
from St. Bartholomew's Hospital, two by midwives, and three by
private doctors.
The associated causes and conditions were said to be : prolonged
labour (3), miscarriage or abortion (3), vaginal douche administered
by an untrained nurse (2), unsatisfactory attention during
child-birth by untrained nurses or neighbour nurses, 3 cases. In
4 out of 11 cases, the mothers were cared for during child-birth by
slatternly neighbour nurses, dirty, untrained women who neither
washed themselves properly or the mothers, with nails long and