London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
London County Council 1945
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
This page requires JavaScript
| 1934 | 1935 | 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Puerperal fever :— | ||||||||||||
| London | 1.34 | 1.15 | 0.75 | 0.84 | 0.79 | 0.65 | 0.98 | 1.47 | 1.13 | 0.95 | 0.76 | 0.70 |
| England and Wales | 2.03 | 1.68 | 1.39 | 0.98 | 0.89 | 0.77 | 0.82 | 0.85 | 0.80 | 0.75 | 0.62 | 0.50 |
| Other causes :— | ||||||||||||
| London | 1.46 | 1.43 | 1.23 | 1.45 | 1.12 | 1.32 | 1.00 | 1.58 | 1.38 | 1.18 | 0.94 | 1.23 |
| England and Wales | 2.57 | 2.42 | 2.41 | 2.28 | 2.19 | 2.16 | 1.88 | 2.01 | 1.76 | 1.60 | 1.38 | 1.34 |
| Metropolitan boroughs arranged in topographical order | Childbirth deaths (a) per 1,000 live-births | Number or deaths(b) in childbirth 1945 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1931-40 | 1941-45 | ||||||||
| Puerperal fever | Other causes | Total | Puerperal fever | Other causes | Total | Puerperal fever | Other causes | Total | |
| Paddington | 1.9 | 2.2 | 4.1 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 2.7 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| Kensington | 1.5 | 1.6 | 3.1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Hammersmith | 1.0 | 1.2 | 2.2 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 1.5 | - | 1 | 1 |
| Fulham | 1.1 | 1.6 | 2.7 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 2.1 | - | 3 | 3 |
| Chelsea | 1.5 | 1.8 | 3.3 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 4.0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Westminster | 2.0 | 1.4 | 3.4 | 2.4 | 1.6 | 4.0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| St. Marylebone | 1.5 | 2.1 | 3.6 | 1.2 | 2.2 | 3.4 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Hampstead | 0.8 | 1.4 | 2.2 | 0.4 | 1.8 | 2.2 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| St. Pancras | 1.4 | 1.7 | 3.1 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 2.8 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Islington | 1.2 | 1.5 | 2.7 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 2.0 | - | 1 | 1 |
| Stoke Newington | 0.6 | 2.9 | 3.5 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.6 | - | 1 | 1 |
| Hackney | 0.9 | 1.4 | 2.3 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 1.4 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| Holborn | 2.1 | 1.4 | 3.5 | 2.9 | - | 2.9 | - | - | - |
| Finsbury | 0.8 | 0.7 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 1.4 | 3.2 | 2 | - | 2 |
| City of London | 3.3 | - | 3.3 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Shoreditch | 0.8 | 1.4 | 2.2 | 1.6 | 0.9 | 2.5 | - | 1 | 1 |
| Bethnal Green | 1.1 | 1.0 | 2.1 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 1.4 | - | 1 | 1 |
| Stepney | 0.9 | 1.7 | 2.6 | 0.8 | 1.6 | 2.4 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Poplar | 1.4 | 1.1 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 2.7 | 1 | - | 1 |
| Southwark | 0.9 | 1.7 | 2.6 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 1.4 | - | 1 | 1 |
| Bermondsey | 1.3 | 1.5 | 2.8 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 3.5 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Lambeth | 1.0 | 1.1 | 2.1 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 2.3 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Battersea | 1.2 | 1.5 | 2.7 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 1.1 | - | 2 | 2 |
| Wandsworth | 1.5 | 1.4 | 2.9 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 2.2 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| Camberwell | 1.2 | 1.5 | 2.7 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 3.6 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Deptford | 1.1 | 1.3 | 2.4 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 1.8 | - | 1 | 1 |
| Greenwich | 1.2 | 1.5 | 2.7 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Lewisham | 1.1 | 1.6 | 2.7 | 0.7 | 1.6 | 2.3 | - | 6 | 6 |
| Woolwich | 0.8 | 1.1 | 1.9 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| London | 1.2 | 1.5 | 2.7 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 2.2 | 32 | 56 | 88 |
(а) Including deaths due to abortion except that those legally determined to have resulted from
criminal interference have been included only from 1940.
(b) The deaths in childbirth in 1945 are shown in the above table but not the death-rates, as,
owing to the smallness of the figure*, the rates for a single year in any metropolitan borough
may be misleading. The maternal mortality-rates for each metropolitan borough in 1945
and for London as a whole are, however, sot out in table 1.
C