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109
by Hampstead Hill itself; they seem to find it difficult to realise that
portions of north Kentish Town and Kilburn are in the Borough of
Hampstead and that these portions are inhabited by poor people, as poor
as any in London, and their housing conditions are as bad. This was
partly the reason why the Borough Council established a Ward at New
End Hospital for the accommodation of mothers whose homes were so
crowded as to render it undesirable that the babies should be born there.
Every birth notification is carefully examined, and in those cases thought
suitable for visiting a Health Visitor is instructed to call. The table
that follows is compiled from the Health Visitor's records, and is an
analysis of 430 instances where the birth occurred at home and was
visited by the Health Visitor. The other births not included in the
table are those occurring in good class families, in nursing homes and
institutions in Hampstead or outside the Borough where the mother was
a Hampstead resident; and those cases where the information was not
obtainable.
The table is designed to show the home conditions where the baby
was actually born at home (exclusive of the births in good class houses).
It demonstrates that of 430 babies, 71 were born in one-roomed
tenement and 140 in two-roomed tenements. The number of people
in one or two-roomed tenements is deplorably high; thus in a oneroomed
tenements where eight persons were already living, a baby was
born ; in another case a birth occurred in the one-roomed home where
six people were already living; in six instances of one-roomed
tenements, the newly born baby became the sixth occupant of the room.
As regards two-roomed homes, in one instance nine persons were
already inhabiting the rooms prior to the birth of the baby ; in nine
cases the baby's advent raised the number of occupants to eight.
I am loath to give up the idea I have long entertained, that it is
better for the children to be born at home ; but these figures appear to
present an unanswerable argument for the establishment of such
institutional accommodation as the Borough Council beds at New End
Hospital, details of which will be found in this Section of the Report.
For the purposes of the following table, kitchens have been included,
but not sculleries, bathrooms, &c. The newly-born infant has
been counted in the family.