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
Kensington 1920
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington Borough]
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death rate for the year. This explanation will be made more clear by a simple example. Assuming
that ten children, born towards the end of 1919, died in 1920 before reaching the age of twelve
months, their deaths would give an infantile death rate of ten for the year 1920 if there were 1,000
births in the latter year, whereas they would give a rate of only five if 2,000 children were born in
1920. As there were 4,020 births in 1920 compared with 2,653 in 1919, it will be seen that the
improvement in North Kensington for 1920 must be regarded to some extent as apparent rather
than real.
As regards the high rates for Holland, Earl's Court and Queen's Gate wards, it must be remembered that a few deaths more or less have a marked effect on the mortality figures owing to the small number of births occurring. The rates for these wards do, however, warrant close examination and the causes of death are shown in the following table:—
| Holland. | Earl's Court, | Queen's Gate. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Common Infectious Diseases | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Diarrhoea (including Enteritis) | 6 | 5 | 0 |
| Premature Birth | 7 | 6 | 4 |
| Congenital Defects (including Injury at Birth and Atelectasis) | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| Wasting and Debility | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| Bronchitis and Pneumonia | 5 | 3 | 0 |
| Other causes | 3 | 5 | 2 |
| 29 | 27 | 14 |
CAUSES OF HIGH INFANTILE MORTALITY.
The principal causes of high infantile mortality are to be sought in the conditions which
accompany poverty. Lack of food, both for mother and child, improper food, crowding of persons
in rooms, want of air, uncleanly homes, neglect, deliberate or inevitable, and ignorance of the
simple rules of health are perhaps the conditions which chiefly affect the health of infants in the
homes of the poor.
To pay rent for the minimum of cubic space, to live on insufficient food, and to supplement the
weekly income by sending their wives out to work, are the means by which numbers of casual
labourers keep themselves and their large families from the work-house. If the mother be obliged
to go out to work, the neglect described as inevitable must follow. There are then certain injurious
influences, the direct outcome of poverty, which the Infant Welfare Centres and the Council's
Health Visitors can do but little to alleviate. On the other hand, in giving advice as to feeding,
cleanliness and the necessity of fresh air, especially to the teachable mothers of first babies, an
immense amount of good can be and is effected by the workers at the Welfare Centres and the
Health Visitors.
The chief diseases which were registered as the immediate causes of death in 1920 and the two preceding years are summarised in the following list:—
| Causes of Death. | Number of Deaths. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1918. | 1919. | 1920. | |
| Common Infectious Diseases | 10 | 5 | 20 |
| Diarrhœa (including Enteritis) | 36 | 71 | 64 |
| Premature Birth | 29 | 41 | 58 |
| Congenital Defects (including Injury at Birth and Atelectasis) | 9 | 11 | 26 |
| Wasting and Debility | 41 | 26 | 36 |
| Tuberculous Diseases | 1 | 6 | 7 |
| Syphilis | 5 | 3 | 7 |
| Bronchitis and Pneumonia | 62 | 63 | 69 |
| Overlaying | — | 6 | 3 |
| Other causes | 31 | 38 | 35 |
| 224 | 270 | 325 | |
BIRTHS AND DEATHS OF ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN.
During the year the births of 274 children were registered as illegitimate, and of this number
55 died. The death rate expressed as the number of deaths per 1000 illegitimate births thus
amounted to 201 as compared with an infantile death rate of 81 in the infant population as a whole.
In view of the disabilities imposed by society on these unfortunate children and their mothers, an
even higher death rate might have been expected. For a certain number of illegitimate children