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

View report page

Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London

Bethnal Green 1927

Report on the health of the Borough of Bethnal Green during the year 1927

This page requires JavaScript

Table: supplied to me by the Clerk to the Bethnal Green Board of Guardians:—

supplied to me by the Clerk to the Bethnal Green Board of Guardians:—

DateTotal Number of Persons relieved in their own homes, including wives and childrenPersons Relieved in Institutions
Persons suffering from sickness or bodily infirmityPersons suffering from mental infirmityPersons not suffering from sickness, bodily or mental infirmity
Unem.Others
on 1st Jan.
192536971246827748462
192654622460861746513
192789683238814735470
192877323938877725512

Text

Copy text to clipboard

Owing to the difficulty of getting separate figures
for residents in the borough, it is not possible to give
reliable statistics as to the number of persons registered
as unemployed. It is, however, clear from the
applications for milk grants, as well as from the
foregoing return from the Guardians, that unemployment
and low wages are very prevalent.
PUBLIC HEALTH EXPENDITURE.
The exceedingly small cost of the local Public
Health services is shown by the latest available
figures for the financial year 1926-7, when the total
expenditure of the Public Health Committee was
£14,897, or 2s. 6d. per head of the population, and
equivalent to a rate of 6d. in the £1. The New York
State Department of Health has the striking statement
on its envelopes: "Public Health is purchasable.
Within natural limitations any community can
determine its own death rate." The results achieved
by progressive public health administration in Bethnal
Green, as illustrated by this and previous Annual
Reports, show that the assertion is largely true.
Bethnal Green is handicapped in engaging in any