London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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St Pancras 1930

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St. Pancras, Metropolitan Borough]

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taken place in the Borough. The Notification of Births Act (1907) states: " Information with
regard to the event shall be given to the Medical Officer of Health within 36 hours of the
occurrence of the birth of a child, alive or dead, which has issued forth from its mother after
the twenty-eighth week of pregnancy." This notification is in addition to, and not in substitution
for, reijistration of birth, which must be carried out at a Register Office within forty-two
days of the birth.
Still Births.
The Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1926, which came into force on July 1st, 1927,
requires the birth of any still born child to be registered.
The definition of still birth for the purpose of the Act is as follows:—
Still born or still birth shall apply to any child which has issued forth from its mother
after the 28th week of pregnancy, and which did not at any time after being completely
expelled from its mother, breathe or show any other sign of life.
For the purpose of the Births and Deaths Registration Act, a child which, whatever the
period of pregnancy, breathes or shows any other sign of life after complete expulsion from the
mother, is a live born child, and if it dies even within a brief period only after birth, both the
birth and the death must be registered.
The fact of still birth must be certified either by the Medical Practitioner or Midwife
who was in attendance, or who has examined the child, or by declaration in a prescribed form if
no Medical Practitioner or Midwife was present. If, in any of the last mentioned cases
information is given by the Registrar to the Local Authority, the Minister of Health has
intimated that the Medical Officer of Health shall arrange for enquiries to be made in order
that he may be satisfied that the child was really still born and that there were no suspicious
circumstances attaching to the case.

In accordance with the instructions of the Ministry of Health, the following table is included which gives particulars, by sex and legitimacy, with reference to all still births registered in the Borough during the year:—

Still Births Registered.Inward Transfers,Outward Transfers.
TotalLegitimate and IllegitimateMales1271171
Females79649
IllegitimateMales1035
Females1013

Inward transfers relate to still births belonging to the Borough, but which took place in
some other area. Outward transfers refer to still births of non-residents, but which took
place in the Borough.
DEATHS.
The net number of St. Pancras deaths registered during the year was 2,478; equal to
an annual death rate of 11.9 per 1000 of population.
The corresponding rate for the previous year was 15.3 and the average yearly death
rate of the Borough for the previous five years was 13.1 per 1000 of population.
The actual number of deaths registered as having taken place in the Borough during the
year was 2,928. This number has to be corrected by the exclusion of 999 deaths which
occurred in the Borough of persons who were not St. Pancras residents, and by the inclusion
of 549 deaths of residents which occurred and were registered outside the Borough.
The corrected figure is therefore 2,478 and is used in calculating the death rate in this
report.
The death rate of the Borough for the year 1930 is the lowest hitherto recorded, but it
would appear to be unlikely that any further material reduction will take place, or that so