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97
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
Of the cases in which no information was available, two had
lived in Common Lodging Houses and could not be traced, two were
born in the Workhouse and died in the Union Infirmary, and two
mothers of illegitimate children had removed directly after the
death of the children.
Four of the deaths occurred in good residential districts and
no enquiries were made.
Of the contributory causes to the infants' deaths it may be
noted that two of the mothers were notified as suffering from
Puerperal Fever, three were very ill before the confinement and died
a few days after giving birth to a weakly child, three mothers were
notified as suffering from Pulmonary Tuberculosis, and three were
very Anaemic and probably Tuberculous. One foster-mother was
very ill herself with Diarrhoea and had to go into the Union
Infirmary for treatment, and in three cases the mothers had previously
lost children with Diarrhoea.
In three cases children in the same family had had an attack
of Diarrhoea and had probably infected the infant, and in one
family a child had died with the disease a fortnight previously.
One father suffered from Pulmonary Tuberculosis.
In two cases the fathers had been out of work and the
mother and children had lacked proper nourishment, in one case
the father had neglected the children and ill-treated the mother
and was reported to the National Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Children.
Ten of the infants suffered from Indigestion and Bowel trouble
from birth, eight had been attending hospitals for Bronchial trouble,
one was born suffering from Jaundice, one with heart complaint,
and two were attending hospital for Rupture.
Three babies had Meningitis, and in one family the child next
in age to the infant suffered with Tuberculous Meningitis.