Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Islington, Metropolitan Borough of]
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31
[1911
Periods.
Illegitimate
Births.
Total
Registered
Births.
Illegitimate
Births per 100
Registered Births.
1881-1890 3,475 97,420 3.57
1891-1900 2,719 97,278 2.79
1901-1910 2,413 87,301 2.76
1911 248 8,113 3.06
Table G in the appendix gives a return for each year since 1841 of the
illegitimate births registered in Islington which have been carefully abstracted
by the Medical Officer of Health from the annual reports of the RegistrarGeneral.
The Notification of Births.—There were 7,232 notifications received
during the year under the Notification of Births Act, 1907, which requires that
all births shall be notified to the Medical Officer of Health within thirty-six
hours of their occurrence. The notifications represented 891 per cent of the
entire number of registered births.
These figures contrast with the three preceding years as follows:—
Births. Notifications. Deficiency. Per cent. notified.
1908 3,907 3,211 756 80.9
(From July 16th)
1909 8,198 6,983 1 215 85.2
1910 8,201 7,407 794 90.3
1911 8,113 7,232 881 89.1
The above returns indicate that there was a slight decrease in the percentage
of births notified compared with the preceding year, although it was a
distinct improvement on that of the years 1908 and 1909.
An analysis of the returns shows that of the 7,232 notifications:
1,048 were notified by medical practitioners.
3,412 „ „ midwives.
2,772 „ ,, parents and other persons.
Dnring the year 741 births were not notified under the Act, but their
occurrence was afterwards ascertained from the District Registrars'
returns. Enquiries elicited the fact that in 559 cases the mother was
attended by a doctor, in 38 of which the father was not at home within six
hours of the birth; in 49 cases by a midwife, in 3 of which the father was not