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
St Pancras 1930
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St. Pancras, Metropolitan Borough]
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The following table gives the number of births and the birth rate in each Ward of the Borough for the year 1930, and for comparison the figures for the previous year are also given:— Ward Births and Birth Rates.
| Ward. | 1930. | 1929. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Births. | Birth Rate. | Births. | Birth Rate. | ||
| l | 481 | 13.3 | 487 | 13.7 | |
| 2 | 365 | 17.1 | 328 | 15.7 | |
| 3 | 594 | 17.1 | 570 | 16.7 | |
| 4 | 422 | 16.7 | 430 | 17.3 | |
| 5 | 507 | 17.2 | 504 | 17.4 | |
| 6 | 306 | 15.2 | 318 | 16.1 | |
| 7 | 163 | 11.0 | 174 | 12.0 | |
| 8 | 370 | 14.0 | 359 | 13.9 | |
| Borough | 3208 | 15.4 | 3170 | 15.5 | |
No less than 2,720 births occurred in Public Institutions in St. Pancras, equal to
58.4 per cent, of the total births which took place in the Borough.
Table 4, on page 110, shows for 1930 the birth rate of England and Wales, the County
of London, the Metropolitan Boroughs, and certain of the large towns having populations
exceeding 125,000.
Illegitimacy.
Of the 3,208 net St. Pancras births, 269 were recorded as being illegitimate. This
equals 8.4 per cent, of the total births registered.
The corresponding figures for the preceding 10 years were as follows:—
| Year. | Rate. | Year. | Rate. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1920 | 5.6 per cent. | 1925 | 6.3 per cent. |
| 1921 | 5.5 „ | 1926 | 6.3 „ |
| 1922 | 5.6 „ | 1927 | 6.9 „ |
| 1923 | 5.7 „ | 1928 | 7.3 ,, |
| 1924 | 5.9 „ | 1929 | 7.8 „ |
In the years before the great War the illegitimate births in the Borough were from 4
to 5 per cent, of the total births registered. During the war years the rate increased to about
9 per cent., and although a decrease then occurred, a steady increase in the number of illegitimate
births has taken place during the past 6 or 7 years. To what extent this is due to an
alteration of traditional standards, and to what extent it is caused by overcrowding it is
difficult to state, but probably both factors are concerned.
Notification of Births.
The long delay which might and frequently did occur before a birth was registered was
found to diminish the value of the work carried out at the Welfare Centres. At times the
death of a child would be reported before information had been received with reference to its
birth. The Notification of Births Act was therefore passed in order to remedy this defect and
to give the Local Authority early information of the occurrence of all births.
4,822 notifications of births were received during the year: this includes 179 stillbirths
and 4,643 live births, and represents 99.6 per cent, of the births registered as having