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

Hammersmith 1914

Annual report of the Medical Officer of Health of the Borough of Hammersmith for the year 1914

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Table: The following table gives the number of births and deaths and the death rate per 1,000 births, as calculated by the Registrar-General, during the past nine years, commencing 1906, the year of the appointment of the He ilth Visitor.

The following table gives the number of births and deaths and the death rate per 1,000 births, as calculated by the Registrar-General, during the past nine years, commencing 1906, the year of the appointment of the He ilth Visitor.

Births.Deaths.Deaths of infants per 1,000 births.
19063,112430138
19073,029362117
19083,204383120
19092,995360120
19102,90632999
19112,929434146
19122,88025990
19132,951314103
19I42,93526794

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During the year 70 hospital letters were given for mothers
and infants to attend the West London Hospital for medical
treatment.
The education of the young mothers is an important
factor in the preservation of infant life. A healthy child can
be made unhealthy by improper feeding, whether the child
is fed by the breast or by hand.
It is important to impress on the young mothers the
necessity of having regular times for feeding, quite as much
by breast-feeding as by hand.
Feeding Cards provided by the Council have been distributed where necessary, and the mothers take great care of
them. On many occasions, the existing card, which has
become dirty from hanging up in the living room, has been
replaced by a clean one.
The Hammersmith School for Mothers has extended its
usefulness by opening two new branch centres during the
year, one at Becklow Road and one at College Park. The
mothers appreciate these branch centres very much, especially
the one at College Park, where the Hammersmith mothers
were such a long way from the Centre.
The Women's League of Service has provided several
mothers with free dinners where they were required. There
was not so much poverty last winter as in former winter
seasons, men out of work joined the Army and so provided
for their wives and families.
There are a great many young inexperienced mothers
who welcome the visits of the Health Visitor. Many of them
have no friends in London and are very glad to have advice