London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Acton 1938
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Acton]
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hours of the occurrence of the birth of a child, alive or dead, which has issued forth from its
mother after the twenty-eighth week of pregnancy." This notification is in addition to, and
not in substitution for, registration of birth, which must be carried out at a Registry Office
within forty-two days of the birth.
Still Births.
The Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1926, which came into force on July 1st, 1927,
requires the birth of any still born child to be registered.
The definition of still birth for the purpose of the Act is as follows :—
Still born or still birth shall apply to any child which has issued forth from its mother
after the 28th week of pregnancy, and which did not at any time after being completely
expelled from its mother, breathe or show any other sign of life.
For the purpose of the Births and Deaths Registration Act, a child which, whatever the
period of pregnancy, breathes or shows any other sign of life after complete expulsion from the
mother, is a live born child, and if it dies even within a brief period only after birth, both the
birth and the death must be registered.
The fact of still birth must be certified either by the Medical Practitioner or the Midwife
who was in attendance, or who has examined the child, or by declaration in a prescribed form if
no Medical Practitioner nor Midwife was present. If, in any of the last mentioned cases,
information is given by the Registrar to the Local Authority, the Minister of Health has
intimated that the Medical Officer of Health shall arrange for enquiries to be made in order
that he may be satisfied that the child was really still born and that no suspicious
circumstances attach to the case.
In accordance with the instructions of the Ministry of Health, the following table is included which gives particulars, by sex and legitimacy, with reference to all still births registered in the Borough during the year:—
| Still Births Registered. | Inward Transfers. | Outward Transfers. | Still Births Allocated to the Borough. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Legitimate and | Males | 90 | 17 | 52 | 55 |
| | Illegitimate | Females | 66 | 11 | 29 | 48 | |
| Illegitimate j | Males | 8 | 1 | 1 | 8 | |
| Females | 5 | - | 4 | 1 | ||
Inward transfers relate to still births belonging to the Borough, but which took place in
some other area. Outward transfers refer to still births of non-residents, but which took
place in the Borough.
DEATHS.
The actual number of deaths registered as having taken place in the Borough during the
year was 2,794. This number is to be corrected by the exclusion of 1,014 deaths which
occurred in the Borough of persons who were not St. Pancras residents, and by the inclusion
of 698 deaths of residents which occurred outside the Borough.
The net number of St. Pancras deaths registered during the year was accordingly
2,478 ; equal to an annual death rate of 13.5 per 1000 of population.