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THE HEALTH OF BARKING
SECTION B.
GENERAL PROVISION OF HEALTH SERVICES FOR THE AREA.
Infant Welfare.
In his Annual Report for the year 1906, Dr. C. F. Fenton, the Medical Officer
of Health for Barking, well aware of the fact that the majority of infants who died
did so in the first month of life, proposed that “a register of all births be kept in the
Public Health Department,” a necessary first step, because, after all, you can't do
much to save a child if you don't even know that it exists. He went on to recommend
the appointment of a "Lady Inspector"—the forerunner of your Health Visitor
service of today. He preferred the idea of a " Lady Inspector " to the alternative
of voluntary "Lady Helpers" to "visit the houses" and "advise and help the
mothers," for he seemed fearful that it might be "a little difficult to rise above
personalities, such as social status." Evidently the good Dr. Fenton knew a thing
or two about human nature!
The following year gave him his chance with the passing of the Notification of
Births Act, 1907, which permitted the Medical Officer of Health to hear of net
births within 36 hours and Barking was among the first districts to adopt this Act
A Lady Health Visitor was appointed on 9th April, 1907, and it is recorded that
"mothers of all classes accorded her a hearty welcome, except a very few who refused
her admittance into their houses and contemned any suggestions she might have to
make."
Dr. Fenton ends his report for 1907 thus, "In conclusion, one feels that to pull
down the infantile mortality rate a tough piece of work has to be undertaken, but it
we are on the right road, and I believe we are, we shall in time be rewarded by some
measure, perhaps a large measure of success." In that year, the Infantile Mortality
Rate stood at 112 (this "low rate " he called it)—today it stands at 32.79.
The following year 1908 saw the dawn of the Infant Welfare Clinics with the
setting up of an Infants Clinic “where the mother is encouraged to bring the child
regularly to the Public Offices on a Tuesday afternoon for it to be weighed” and
advice was given "as to the care and feeding of the baby." For some years a great
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