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The effects of social status on the birth rate are illustrated by the fact that the rate for South
Kensington is usually less than half the rate for North Kensington, whilst in 1926 the birth rate
in each of the three most northerly Wards was more than three times as great as the rate for the
Ward of Brompton in the South.

Notification of Births Act, 1907.—Parents are allowed a period of six weeks within
Which to register the birth of a child, but the fulfilment of this duty is so frequently postponed
until the last few days of this period that the records of the Registrars of Births do not enable
Public Health authorities to gain that early knowledge of the birth of children in their districts
which is so essential to the success of the work of Health Visitors. This disadvantage arising from
delay in birth registration has been met by the Notification of Births Act, which requires all live
births and all still births occurring after the twenty-eighth week of pregnancy to be notified within
thirty-six hours to the Medical Officer of Health of the district in which they occur.
During the year, 2,717 births to Kensington mothers were registered, and of this number 2 616
or 96 per cent. were notified in accordance with the requirements of the Act. The number of
stillbirths notified was 69.