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
Battersea 1927
Report on the health of the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea for the year 1927
This page requires JavaScript
The distribution of the 150 infant deaths and the infant mortality-rates for the registration sub-districts and the Wards, are shown in the following table:-
| Registration Sub-District. | Births. | Deaths of Infants under 1 year of age. | Infant Mortality per 1,000 births. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M. | F. | total. | |||
| East Battersea | 1,251 | 46 | 25 | 71 | 56.8 |
| North-West Battersea | 915 | 29 | 19 | 48 | 52.5 |
| South-West Battersea | 635 | 13 | 18 | 31 | 48.8 |
| The Borough | 2,801 | 88 | 62 | 150 | 53.5 |
| Ward. | |||||
| 1. Nine Elms | 515 | 27 | 14 | 41 | 79.6 |
| 2. Park | 373 | 13 | 5 | 18 | 48.3 |
| 3. Latchmere | 337 | 5 | — | 5 | 14.8 |
| 4. Shaftesbury | 222 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 40.5 |
| 5. Church | 328 | 11 | 6 | 17 | 51.8 |
| 6. Winstanley | 421 | 16 | 13 | 29 | 68.9 |
| 7. St. John | 123 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 32.5 |
| 8. Bolingbroke | 258 | 8 | 9 | 17 | 65.9 |
| 9. Broomwood | 224 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 44.6 |
It will be noted that in the sub-districts the rate was highest in
East Battersea (56.8) and lowest in South-West Battersea (48.8).
In the Wards, Nine Elms showed the highest rate (79.6) and
Latchmere the lowest (14.8).
The infant mortality rate in the County of London and in
England and Wales during 1927 was 59 and 69 respectively.
The number of infant deaths and the infant mortality in each
quarter of the year was as follows:—
| Births registered. | Infant deaths. | Infant Mortality Rate. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| First quarter | 727 | 51 | 70.2 |
| Second quarter | 704 | 37 | 52.6 |
| Third quarter | 701 | 25 | 35.7 |
| Fourth quarter | 669 | 37 | 55.3 |
During the last 9 months of the year the infant death-rate was
47.7. But for the relatively high mortality of the first two quarters
the rate would have been equal to or even lower than in 1923,
the record year.
There were 80 deaths of infants during the first four weeks of
life (or 53.3 per cent. of the total infant deaths) as compared with
81 deaths (or 44.3 per cent.) in 1926 and a percentage for the
quinquennium 1922-1926 of 43.7.