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London County Council
INTERIM REPORT OF THE
COUNTY MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
AND SCHOOL MEDICAL OFFICER
FOR THE YEAR 1944
By Sir Allen Daley, M.D., F.R.C.P., County Medical Officer of Health, and
School Medical Officer
INTRODUCTION
Nineteen-hundred and forty-four was a trying year for Londoners. The lull
in air raids was broken in January and the attack was intensified in June by the
flying bomb bombardment, followed in September by that of the rocket shell.
Many lost their lives, or were injured, and there was great destruction of homes and
property.
As the attack developed, steps were taken to evacuate mothers and children
and hospital patients to safer localities. On pages 14-19 are tables of air-raid casualties
in the County for each year of the war, which clearly show the intensity of the
1944 attack. The total number of civilian war deaths for the period of the war
was 17,811.
In spite of the ordeal caused by V1 and V2, and the continued strain of war,
the general health of Londoners, on the whole, remained satisfactory.
Now the European war is ended, and the Registrar-General has released
population statistics for publication, it is possible, for the first time since 1939,
to quote birth and death rates. Tables showing the trend of vital statistics in the
County of London in five-yearly periods since 1891, and for each of the war years
are given on pages 9 and 10 of this report.
As a result of the war, the population of the County of London has, according
to the Registrar-General's estimates, decreased from 4,062,800 in 1938 to 2,462,500
in 1944, i.e., by about 40 per cent. Marriages commenced to increase after the
outbreak of war, reaching a maximum in 1941 ; during 1938 the marriage rate
was 21.9 per 1,000, while in 1941 it rose to 30.2 ; during the year 1944 it was 21.5,
compared with 21.7 in 1943. Birth and death rates were higher in 1944 than in
1943, being per 1,000 population 18.1 and 16.7, respectively, compared with 18.0
and 15.7 in 1943. The birth-rate has generally increased during the war. Since
1942 there seems to have been an increase in fertility or decrease in the practice
of birth control; for the births are at present increasing on a falling marriage rate.
Illegitimate births continued to increase as in previous war years, the rate per cent.
of total live births being 9.3 compared with 8.2 in the previous year. The increase
in the deaths since the previous year can mainly be ascribed to air-raid casualties
as a result of enemy action during 1944. The infant mortality rate was 51 per
1,000 live births, the same as in 1943. Deaths in the first four weeks of life gave a
neo-natal mortality rate of 23.1 per 1,000 live births compared with 23.4 in 1943.
The maternal mortality rate is still decreasing, having reached in 1944 the record
figure of 1.70 per 1,000 five births, compared with 2.13 in 1943 and 2 .51 in 1942.
The death-rate from cancer was 2.35, compared with 2.46 in 1943 and 1.79 in
1938. This is the first occasion that there has been a decline in cancer mortality
since records have been published by the Registrar-General. The total incidence
of infectious diseases has fallen during the past year, but dysentery still continues
to increase, the cases and deaths being 1,558 and 20, respectively, compared with
1,103 and 14 in 1943. Whooping-cough has also increased, with 7,144 notifications
700 (m°c 81019) 3-12-45 2615 (1)