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
Islington 1913
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Islington, Metropolitan Borough of]
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20
1913
average Scottish family with the corresponding figures for similar marriages
twenty years earlier that the decrease in size was universal, and that for all
ages under 36, 32 excepted, it amounted to more than one child
per marriage. Thus while in 1866 the wife who had married at 20 had on
an average a family of eight or nine children, in 1886 she was the mother of
seven or eight children, and so on.
A Table, given below, appended to Dr. Dunlop's paper, bears out the contention that the shrinkage in the size of the Scottish family is not entirely due to later marriages alone, because the marriages at a later age to-day show a relatively diminished number of children when contrasted with similar marriages twenty years before.
| Age of Wife at Marriage. | Date. | Average Family. | Date | Average Family. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | 1873 | 5.85 | 1893 | 1.67 |
| 28 | 1874 | 5.08 | 1894 | 1.11 |
| 29 | 1875 | 4.91 | 1895 | 1.38 |
| 30 | 1876 | 4.57 | 1896 | 1.35 |
| 31 | 1877 | 4.35 | 1897 | 1.48 |
| 32 | 1878 | 3.48 | 1898 | 0.82 |
| 33 | 1879 | 3.76 | 1899 | 1.36 |
| 34 | 1880 | 3.44 | 1900 | 1.25 |
| 35 | 1881 | 2.80 | 1901 | 1.11 |
| 36 | 1882 | 2.40 | 1902 | 0.72 |
These figures are very remarkable, and are a distinct warning, if anything
approaching such a family shrinkage is occurring in other parts of the United
Kingdom, that no effort would be too great or too far reaching which would
prevent the loss of the lives of the infants that have been born to the nation,
and that such prevention should be a national duty. Money is required for the
purpose, and it should be forthcoming in large proportions from the Imperial
Treasury. Local Authorities year by year are feeling more and more the
burden of modern health legislation, which has for its object the preservation
of infant life and the proper care and nurture of young children; and the
time has now arrived when they can afford to accomplish little more unless
they are enabled to do so by liberal grants by Parliament in aid of the specific
purposes for which they are required. The money will be well spent, for if
ever money can buy life and health it can do so to a very large extent in the
case of infants and young children, and so enable them to fight against the
ailments of youth, and to grow up with bright cheeks, strong frames, and
sturdy limbs. Contrast this with the children we see every day in our schools