London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Greenwich 1956
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Greenwich Borough.
This page requires JavaScript
16
BIRTHS
The total number of live births registered in the Borough during
the year was 1,386 and of this number 1,013 occurred in St. Alfege's
Hospital, and 373 in private dwellings. In 560 cases the parents
resided outside the Borough and the births were consequently
transferred to the appropriate districts, leaving a figure of 826.
To this must be added 501 births belonging to the Borough which
took place in Institutions outside the Borough, thus making a final
figure for Greenwich of 1,327, an increase of 16 over that of the
previous year. Of this total 675 were males and 652 females.
The following table gives by districts the number of registrations of Greenwich Births during the current year :—
| Source of Information | DISTRICT | Total Greenwioh Births | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| East | West | St. Nicholas | Charlton & Kidbrooke | ||
| Greenwich | |||||
| Registrar's | |||||
| Returns:— | 303 | 169 | 72 | 282 | 826 |
| Inward | |||||
| Transfers:— | |||||
| 1st Qtr. | 42 | 15 | — | 73 | 130 |
| 2nd Qtr. | 44 | 14 | 1 | 73 | 132 |
| 3rd Qtr. | 40 | 17 | — | 70 | 127 |
| 4th Qtr. | 33 | 17 | — | 62 | 112 |
| Totals | 462 | 232 | 73 | 560 | 1,327 |
The Birth Rate for the year, calculated on the figure of 1,327
births, is 14.99 per thousand of the population, 0.30 higher than that
for 1955. The average rate for the previous ten years is 17.50.
The Greenwich Comparability Factor for births is 0.94 which gives
an adjusted rate of 14.09.
The Rates for the County of London and England and Wales
are 15.9 and 15.6 respectively.
Illegitimate Births which numbered 63 (representing 4.7 per
cent, of the total live births) showed an increase of 3 over those of
the previous year.
The number of Still Births registered was 33 (13 males 20
females), which is equivalent to a rate of 24.26 per 1,000 total births,
an increase of 3.35 over that of 1955.