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Professor Kenwood was also Professor of Public Healfh in the University of London and I
discovered in 1911, when working for the Diploma of Public Health, that it was necessary to read his
text books. Many Medical Officers who rose to the highest positions in the world of Public Health
obtained their first training in Stoke Newington with Professor Kenwood ; for instance the late Sir
Frederick Menzies, Medical Officer of Health of the London County Council, was assistant Medical
Officer of Health to Professor Kenwood in Stoke Newington, and Sir Frederick was only one of several
such men who attained the highest distinctions subsequently and possibly owing to their association
with Professor Kenwood.
When in 1920 I came to Hackney and found that Professor Kenwood was my neighbour in
Stoke Newington, and that the two boroughs were associated together in many ways, for instance
in the administration of the recently built Tuberculosis Dispensary at the Metropolitan Hospital
which serves Stoke Newington and North Hackney, I was naturally very pleased to have such an
eminent and helpful man as colleague.
Professor Kenwood, the first Medical Officer of Health to hold the appointment in the Borough
of Stoke Newington, was appointed in a part-time capacity. Owing to the growth of the maternity
and child welfare and other services he was followed by the first whole-time Medical Officer of the
Borough, Dr. Maitland, who held the appointment from 1927 to 1928. Dr. Maitland was followed by
Dr. Ross Keyt, who held the appointment from 1928 to 1939. Dr. King, who followed Dr. Ross
Keyt, as stated above passed to the London County Council in 1948. The borough, therefore, after
a lapse of approximately 48 years has again appointed a Medical Officer of Health on a part-time
basis.
Stoke Newington has many advantages and fewer anxieties from the point of view of Public
Health administration than many towns of approximately the same population. Stoke Newington
has no General Hospitals, Fever Hospitals, Hospices for the Dying, Maternity Homes and Maternity
Hospitals, with the exception of the Bearsted Memorial Hospital recently established, Nursing homes
or Hostels, and there are no Common Lodging Houses or other institutions that cause periods of
anxiety to the Public Health Department. This arises from the fact of the juxtaposition of the
London Boroughs, which enables those fortunately situated to receive those services from the
neighbouring boroughs.
However, although Stoke Newington (population 45,370) is fortunate in so many respects, the
Borough, from the point of view of population, is equal to many sanitary districts which generally
speaking are considered more important. For instance some of the smaller Counties, Rutland
(18,770), Radnorshire (21,323), Huntingdon (56,206) ; County Boroughs, Canterbury (23,650),
Bootle (54,000), Wakefield (54,470) ; Municipal Corporations, Aldershot (34,281), Basingstoke
(15,850), Bedford (52,000), Chelmsford (33,000), Chatham (42,100), Dover (41,097), Shrewsbury
(44,070), have approximately the same population as Stoke Newington. In fact, nearly 50 wellknown
Local Authorities outside the County of London, and some with County Borough powers,
from the point of view of population are approximate in importance to Stoke Newington. The London
Boroughs lose importance because they are so closely joined together in the County of London, which,
with its millions of population, is in reality not a county but a province.
The fortunate position of Stoke Newington is clearly shown, for instance, by the fact that it was
not necessary to take steps during the year for the removal of any case to hospital under the powers
contained in Section 224 of the Public Health (London) Act, 1936, which has now been repealed and
re-enacted under Section 47 of the National Assistance Act, 1948, nor was it necessary to arrange for
the burial of any person under Section 50 of the National Assistance Act, 1948, a duty which during
the year resulted in the expenditure of some hundreds of pounds in less fortunately situated boroughs.
The fact remains, however, that these and many other duties are placed upon local authorities by
statutes or regulations and the machinery must be in being to exercise all such powers if necessity
arises, since there is no guarantee that all will go smoothly as regards epidemics or any other
unfortunate happening considered very improbable in Stoke Newington but viewed not only as a
possibility but even in a sense as a probability in other sanitary areas.
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