London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Kensington 1926
The annual report on the health of the Borough for the year1926
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This evidence is very encouraging to those voluntary and official workers who are engaged in<
urging mothers to seek advice from their own doctors in the early days of pregnancy or to accept
the ante-natal attention which is being offered at the Infant Welfare Institutions in the Borough.
The midwifery service in Kensington is satisfactory and cannot be regarded as in any way
responsible for any of the deaths which occurred during last year. The poor in North Kensington are
adequately provided for by the well-trained staff of midwives attached to the Queen Charlotte's
Hospital Nurses' Home in Ladbroke Grove. Difficult cases found by these midwives are sent
immediately to the hospital for in-patient treatment. As there is such an excellent organisation
available for the poorest women in North Kensington, the midwives engaged in private practice
in the Borough are able to deal with all the mothers who can afford the usual fees. The private
midwives are generally satisfactory, and I have no evidence that there is any unqualified woman
in the Borough carrying on a midwifery practice.
On page 75 of this report, there is an account of the Council's Maternity Home which was
opened in 1924.
The provision of this Maternity Home completes an organisation, secured by co-operation
between various bodies and extension of their efforts, which aims at safety in confinement. The
organisation is adequate and efficient, and all that remains is to induce working-class mothers to
avail themselves in larger numbers of the facilities which have been provided for the protection of
their health by the Council and the various authorities working with them.
TABLE SHOWING THE BIRTH RATES, DEATH RATES AND INFANTILE MORTALITY RATES IN THE 29 METROPOLITAN CITIES AND BOROUGHS IN 1926.
| Births per 1000 Population. | Deaths per 1000 Population. | Infantile Deaths per 1000 Births. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Shoreditch | 23.3 | Lewisham | 10.0 | Lewisham | 40 |
| 2. Poplar | 21.7 | Woolwich | 10.1 | Woolwich | 42 |
| 3. Bethnal Green | 20.9 | Hampstead | 10.1 | Stoke Newington | 49 |
| 4. Bermondsey | 20.8 | Wandsworth | 10.4 | Lamneth | 54 |
| 5. Finsbury | 20.6 | Hackney | 10.6 | Bermondsey | 56 |
| 6. Southwark | 20.2 | Fulham | 10.7 | Deptford | 56 |
| 7. Stepney | 19.7 | Greenwich | 10.9 | Hampstead | 58 |
| 8. Islington | 18.5 | City of London | 10.9 | Hackney | 60 |
| 9. Deptford | 18.2 | Camberwell | 11.0 | Kensington | 61 |
| 10. Greenwich | 17.8 | Stoke Newington | 11.0 | Battersea | 61 |
| 11. Battersea | 17.3 | Deptford | 11.1 | City of Westminster | 62 |
| 12. Hackney | 17.3 | Battersea | 11.2 | Greenwich | 63 |
| 13. Lambeth | 17.2 | City of Westminster | 11.2 | Camberwell | 64 |
| 14. Woolwich | 16.9 | Poplar | 11.3 | Wandsworth | 64 |
| 15. St. Pancras | 16.8 | Hammersmith | 11.3 | Fulham | 65 |
| 16. Camberwell | 16.6 | Lambeth | 11.5 | Chelsea | 65 |
| 17. Fulham | 16.3 | Bethnal Green | 11.6 | Stepney | 65 |
| 18. Hammersmith | 16.3 | Stepney | 11.7 | Shoreditch | 66 |
| 19. Stoke Newington | 15.6 | Holborn | 11.7 | City of London | 66 |
| 20. Lewisham | 15.5 | Bermondsey | 11.9 | Finsbury | 67 |
| 21. Paddington | 15.4 | Shoreditch | 11.9 | Islington | 67 |
| 22. Kensington | 15.1 | Islington | 12.0 | Hammersmith | 67 |
| 23. Wandsworth | 14.3 | St. Pancras | 12.2 | Poplar | 70 |
| 24. Chelsea | 13.3 | Paddington | 12.3 | Southwark | 70 |
| 25. St. Marylebone | 12.8 | Kensington | 12.4 | Bethnal Green | 72 |
| 26. Holborn | 12.4 | Chelsea | 12.4 | St. Pancras | 76 |
| 27. Hampstead | 12.2 | St. Marylebone | 12.6 | St. Marylebone | 82 |
| 28, City of Westminster | 11.8 | Southwark | 12.7 | Paddington | 84 |
| 29. City of London | 7.9 | Finsbury | 12.8 | Holborn | 90 |
The above figures are taken from the Return of the Registrar General No. 312, Table 11, which
shows the provisional birth rate, death rate and infantile mortality rate for the year 1926 based on the
'population as estimated for the middle of 1925.
GENERAL PROVISION OF HEALTH SERVICES IN THE AREA.
In Circular No. 743, the Minister of Health has requested that the Report for 1926 shall give
a review of the Health Services operating withn the area. In the case of a Metropolitan Borough
such a review cannot be a complete statement of all the services which are available to the residents,
for many seek aid from institutions and organisations beyond the Borough boundaries. For