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 1908

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington Borough]

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Table: TABLE V. (A.) INFANTILE MORTALITY. (See page 38.) Causes of Death of Infants under one year of age, grouped in monthly periods, 1908.

TABLE V. (A.) INFANTILE MORTALITY. (See page 38.) Causes of Death of Infants under one year of age, grouped in monthly periods, 1908.

Cause of Death.January.February.March.April.May.June.July.August.September.October.November.December.Totals.
Small-pox.......................................
Chicken-pox.......................................
Measles1...211..................18
Scarlet Fever.....................1............1
Diphtheria.................................11
Whooping-cough.....................1............1
Diarrhoea1121110241571265
Enteritis, Muco-enteritis, Gastroenteritis...1......1......9131117
Gastritis, Gastro-Intestinal Catarrh..................121.........4
Premature Birth77569287657574
Congenital defects5121322212...122
Injury at birth.......................................
Want of breast milk1......11............11...5
Atrophy. Debility, Marasmus24854714222243
Tuberculous Meningitis21...211......22...213
Tuberculous Peritonitis, Tabes Mesenterica1......1...1............227
Other Tuberculous Diseases11212.....................7
Erysipelas.....................1............1
Syphilis2232......1...231117
Rickets.......................................
Meningitis1............112211110
Convulsions2......12...1......3211
Bronchitis71323...11152320
Laryngitis....................................29
Pneumonia.......................................
Suffocation, overlaying10434722336650
Other causes1...11............1...116
81213232533336
522633303717815842403032428

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VACCINATION.
The table at page 43 is a return respecting vaccination in Kensington in 1907, for which
I am indebted to Mr. King, the vaccination officer. It shows that out of 3,318 infants, whose
births were returned in the "Birth List Sheets" (col. 2), during the year, 2,779 were successfully
vaccinated, and that 12 were returned as " insusceptible of vaccination." In 11 cases vaccination
was postponed by medical certificate; 260 infants died unvaccinated; in 27 instances infants were
removed to other districts, the vaccination officers of which were duly notified of the fact; whilst
163 cases, from "removal to places out of the parish, unknown, or which cannot be reached,
and cases not ha.ving been found," were unaccounted for. These cases are, with those of
conscientious objectors (63, against 37, 32, and 47, in the preceding three years respectively),
equivalent to a "loss" (i.e. cases not finally accounted for) of 6.8 per cent., as compared with the
number of births returned in the Birth List Sheets; the loss in the preceding ten years having been
10.1, 12.7 (1898), 8.1, 6.8, 7.6, 6.1, 5.8, 5.8, 5.4 and 6.3 per cent. The Vaccination officer attributes
" many of the lost cases to false registration and non-registration of births." Be this as it may, the
Kensington returns compare favourably with those for the Metropolis as a whole.