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
Acton 1909
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Acton]
This page requires JavaScript
These results, as summarised in the Annual Report of 1907, are for 1876-1905 as follows:—
| Birth-rate per 1,000 | Birth rate per 1,000 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Female age 15—45 years. | Females age 15—45 years | ||
| 1876—1880 | 153.3 | 1891—1895 | 126.8 |
| 1881 — 1885 | 144.3 | 1896—1900 | 118.8 |
| 1886—1890 | 133.3 | 1901—1905 | 112.5 |
From this table it is clearly seen that the decline in the
birth-rate is due to a diminished fertility of women capable of
child-bearing.
The same phenomena is observed in Acton, but since 1903
the diminution has been greater than in the rest of the
kingdom.
The following table gives the birth-rate per 1,000 females in Acton between the ages of 15 and 45 years:—
| 1901 | 113 | 1905 | 110 |
| 1902 | 107 | 1906 | 106 |
| 1903 | 116 | 1907 | 104 |
| 1904 | 112 | 1908 | 102 |
| 1909 | 94 |
When we turn to the Registrar General's statistics of
illegitimate births, we find that in 30 years the birth-rate of
illegitimates has declined from 14.4 per 1,000 unmarried or
widowed females at procreative age periods in 1878 to 7.8 per
1,000 in 1907. The number of unmarried or widowed females
at different ages is not obtainable for Acton, but the number
of children born out of wedlock sensibly diminished last year,
and the illegitimate birth-rate is low in view of the industrial
The following table gives the illegitimate birth-rate for the last four years:—
| Number. 1 | Rate per ,000 births. | Rate per 1,000 living. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1906 | 39 | 25 | .7 |
| 1907 | 37 | 24 | .7 |
| 1908 | 42 | 26.8 | .76 |
| 1909 | 29 | 19.2 | .52 |