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Town Hall,
Kensington, W.8.
April 30th, 1925.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Royal Borough of Kensington.
Ladies and Gentlemen,—
I have the honour to submit, for your information, my Annual Report upon the state of the
Public Health in Kensington, and a record of the administrative work carried out in the Public
Health Department for the year 1924, together with the vital statistics of the Borough.
A summary of the work done and action taken under the Factory and Workshops Acts is
included.
The death rate for 1924 is 13.0 per 1,000 living. This compares favourably with the rate of
14.2 for the present century, but is higher than the rate of 12.3 for the preceding year. The increase
over the 1923 rate is mainly due to the number of deaths from measles being increased by 60,
from bronchitis by 42, from pneumonia by 41, from cancer by 24 and from heart disease by 30
The deaths from measles, bronchitis and pneumonia occurred principally in the earlier months of
1924 when the weather was unfavourable and treacherous. The 269 deaths from cancer in 1923
created a record for the Borough, only to be broken unhappily by an increase to 293 in 1924.
Heart disease was responsible for 322 deaths in 1924.
The number of deaths of infants under the age of twelve months for every 1,000 births was 75
in 1924 as against 70 in the preceding year, the increase being due to the large number of deaths
from measles, bronchitis and pneumonia in the earlier months of the year under review. The factors
which operated unfavourably on the Kensington infant death rate were responsible for an even
greater increase in the rates for England and Wales and for London, with the result that the
Kensington figure for 1924 compares more favourably with the rates for the country generally and
for the Metropolis than has been the case for several years past; in fact, the rate for Kensington in
1924 is identical with that for England and Wales.
One of the primary objects of the Annual Report of a Medical Officer of Health is to direct
attention to conditions and circumstances affecting the welfare of the Borough which call for the
consideration of the Local Authority ; but it is nevertheless desirable that reference should be made
to the achievements of the Council in safeguarding the health of the community over which they
exercise authority and to statistics which indicate improvements in the Public Health. In this
respect the year under review was remarkable in several directions.
The steady decline in the number of deaths from tuberculosis has continued and the mortality
rate from this disease of 83 per 100,000 population in 1924 is the lowest recorded in Kensington and
an improvement on that for London as a whole which is 113.
The comparative absence of diphtheria and scarlet fever experienced in 1923 continued throughout
1924, in which year there was only one death from the latter disease.
Infant deaths from enteritis fell from 46 in 1923 to 18 in 1924, the latter figure being the
smallest for any one year in the history of the Borough. The deaths from enteritis of children
under the age of two years was 9.2 per 1,000 births for the large towns of England and Wales, 8.4
for London and 6.4 for Kensington. This is a remarkable improvement in regard to the death rate
of a disease which for many years past has taken a heavy toll of infant life in the Borough.
Although the Council's Scheme for the prevention and treatment of enteritis, which was put into
operation on 1st July, 1924, had satisfactory results, it must be made quite clear that the low
number of deaths from this disease is to be attributed mainly to the cold and rainy Summer of 1924,
which brought about climatic conditions unfavourable to the spread of enteritis infection.
The maternal mortality rate (the number of deaths of mothers as a result of diseases or
accidents associated with childbirth for every 1,000 children born) is 1.7. The figures which go to
make this rate are so small that a large fluctuation results from the number of deaths being
increased or decreased by one or two; but whether the rate of 1.7 for 1924 represents a mere
fluctuation or a permanent improvement, it is gratifying to record that the number of deaths of
mothers in childbirth, which should be a normal process not attended by danger to life, was the
lowest in the history of the Borough with the exception of the last year of the War, when the
births were 500 less.
The number of illegitimate children born continues to decrease year by year, and the death
rate of these infants in 1924 is very much lower than in any previous year.
One child infected with ophthalmia neonatorum died as a result of prematurity. With this
exception, every case of this disease coming to notice was cured without any damage to sight, the
year being the third in succession in which such an entirely satisfactory result has been recorded.