London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Finsbury 1910

Annual report on the public health of Finsbury for the year 1910

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replaced by others equally indigent and equally poor.
It is obvious that the standard of poverty which induces
a mother or a family to move from Tottenham into
St. Luke's so that she may have gratuitous treatment
is a standard of poverty, which does not augur well
for the child's welfare or its sustenance after birth.
This exemplifies one of the drawbacks of charitable
effort—gratuitous treatment like monetary assistance
not only relieves but also attracts and focuses in the
district the needy and the penurious.
3. The frequent removals of these families whose mothers
are most in need of instruction and whose babies are
chiefly in want of supervision render its continuance a
matter of great difficulty or impossibility.
4. The profound ignorance of many of the mothers about
feeding and rearing their children.
5. The early and improvident marriages.
6. The number of mothers who have to resume work when
the baby is a month or two old in order to help to
support the rest of the family.

The following table compares Finsbury with London and England and Wales generally : —

Infantile Mortality for 1910.
England and Wales106
Whole of London103
Finsbury121
77 Great Towns115
136 Smaller Towns104
Essentially Rural Districts96

The infantile mortality of Finsbury is about 18 per cent.
greater than the figure for the whole of London, and about 5 per
cent. more than the infantile mortality prevailing in the 77 great
towns.