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The trend of maternal mortality in London since 1906 is shown in Table 4 (page 182):
it fell slowly and somewhat irregularly—with an upswing during the first world war—
until the introduction of sulphonamides in the middle of the 30's; from then on
puerperal sepsis has dwindled rapidly away but the fall in 'other causes' was interrupted
by the second world war. The course of maternal mortality since 1935 for both London
and England and Wales is shown by the following diagram, which illustrates clearly
the effect of war conditions in arresting temporarily the decline in maternal mortality
in London. The sharp rise in London in 1941 and 1944-45 was not shared by the country
as a whole, and this can be attributed to the effect of the air bombardment.
The notification rate of puerperal pyrexia in 1955 was 39-01 per 1,000 total birth
(1,984 cases) compared with 37-4 in 1954 and 32-9 in 1953.
The weather
A summary of the meteorological observations at Kew Observatory during 1955 is
given in Table 13 (page 182). The months of January to March were cold but sunny ;
April was warm, dry and sunny ; May was relatively cold and wet but sunshine was
above average ; ' flaming ' June did not live up to its reputation but in early July a spell
of fine weather set in which continued with minor breaks, until October, giving an
exceptionally fine summer without the discomfort of extreme heat. October to
November followed the usual pattern of autumn weather though drier than is customary
for these months. There was no early cold spell at the beginning of winter. Rainfall for
the year was light, 6 inches below the average of 24 inches.
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