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4
Town Hall,
Euston Road, N.W.1.
26th June, 1951.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Metropolitan Borough of St. Pancras.
Your Worship, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have pleasure in presenting my Annual Report for the year 1950.
This is the seventh report it has been my privilege to submit to you.
1950 was a year of celebration for the Metropolitan Boroughs, for it represented the
fiftieth anniversary of their establishment. Prior to that St. Pancras existed not as a
Metropolitan Borough but as a Vestry. It was the London Government Act of 1899 which
established St. Pancras as a Metropolitan Borough and defined its boundaries.
My predecessor in those days was John M. Sykes, M.D., D.Sc., to whom is largely due
the establishment of the child welfare movement in this country. It was his inspiration,
together with that of a band of volunteers, that started the School for Mothers in St. Pancras.
He records in his annual report for the year 1900 that St. Pancras came into existence as a
Metropolitan Borough in November of that year. It may be well, then, to cast back our minds
to the beginning of the century and compare some of the statistics which Dr. Sykes reported
to the St. Pancras Borough Council in that year and those which I report today:—
1900. 1950.
Population 243,076 141,300
Births 6,448 2,188
Birthrate 26.5 15.5
Deaths 4,655 1,630
Death rate 19.1 11.5
Infantile deaths 1,037 67
Infantile death rate 161 30.6
Smallpox—
Cases 7 Nil
Deaths Nil Nil
Scarlet Fever—
Cases 650 179
Deaths 10 Nil
Diphtheria—
Cases 585 Nil
Deaths 71 Nil
Typhoid—
Cases 356 3
Deaths 63 Nil
These figures speak for themselves. If they indicate the progress that has been made
in the last 50 years they must none the less be an inspiration to us to secure that work so well
founded by our predecessors shall continue in those years for which we may be responsible.