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methods. Two lady Health Visitors were appointed under new
legislative authority, with the specific duties of home-visiting, the
giving of advice on the proper nurture, care and management of
young children and questions of health and hygiene, and enquiring
into the causes of infantile mortality.
The nuclei of the Maternity Clinics were then formed by the
provision of Consultation and Infant Weighing Centres in various
parts of the Borough. Then followed official recognition of certain
voluntary centres established for the purpose of supplying suitable
meals for expectant and nursing mothers.
In 1914 came recognition by Parliament of the work of local
authorities in this connection by the voting of a money grant
towards the cost of that work.
In 1915 a further advance was made by the Borough Council
in taking over the activities of a branch of the Invalid Kitchens
Association established at 162, Lever Street. The operations at
this institution were already becoming blended with maternity
work, and the Council at once adopted and enlarged this work,
particularly on the medical and educational side. Thus was
founded the East Finsbury Maternity and Child Welfare Centre,
which has remained housed at 162, Lever Street up to the present
time. The Council's next scheme will have relation to the provision
of a new building for this centre.
In 1918, an important step was taken by Parliament in the
passing of the Maternity and Child Welfare Act, which required
the appointment by a local authority of a Special Committee to
deal with motherhood and infancy. One of the first things done
by the Committee in Finsbury was to review the needs of the
western portion of the Borough, with the result that a municipal
centre was established for the Clerkenwell area, at Newcastle Place,
Clerkenwell Close.
At this period, the work received a further impetus in the
decision of the Council to appoint an assistant Medical Officer of