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To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Royal Borough of Kensington.1
My Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen, —
I have the honour to submit the Annual Report of the Medical Officer
of Health, which contains, in accordance with the Regulations of the Local
Government Board, a summary of the action taken for the prevention of disease, and
an account of the sanitary state of the Royal Borough during the year 1915.
In August, 1914, owing to the outbreak of war, your Medical Officer of Health,
Dr. J. E. Sandilands, was called up as a member of the Territorial Forces, to
undertake active military duties in the field; and early in the autumn of 1914 your
Council appointed me as Acting Medical Officer of Health during Dr. Sandilands'
absence.
During the year 1915, Miss Whitbread, Temporary Health Visitor, and
Mr. Essex, Clerk, resigned their offices; Mr. McQuinn, Sanitary Inspector, was absent
on war service from the 28th April; Mr. Wilson, Junior Clerk, and Mr. Webber,
Superintendent of the Cleansing Station, the whole of the year; Miss de Chaumont,
Lady Sanitary Inspector, from the 15th September; Miss Mackay, Health Visitor,
the first quarter of the year; and Mr. Harris, Disinfector, has also recently enlisted.
Notwithstanding the decrease of personnel, the work of the Department has
been carried on with its usual efficiency, and this result is due to the zeal and loyalty
of the staff, and more especially to the unremitting attention of the Chief Sanitary
Inspector, Mr. G. Pettit, to whose long experience and intimate acquaintance with all
the sanitary circumstances of the Borough I am greatly indebted in carrying out the
duties of Acting Medical Officer of Health.
I have the honour to be,
Your obedient Servant,
LOUIS C. PARKES.
19th July, 1916.