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approved by the Minister, and such was the position at the end of 1920. It is to
be mentioned that the Maternity and Child Welfare Committee appointed in December,
1919, assumed control of the work from the beginning of 1920. During 1921 the
proposed Model Centre was the subject of correspondence with the Trust and with
the Ministry of Health, and at the end of the year the Maternity and Child Welfare
Committee decided to proceed with the approved scheme without further delay,
and steps were taken accordingly.
The building contract was signed with Messrs. Jarvis and Sons at the end of
June, 1922, and the erection of the Centre was commenced about the middle of
August following, and was well in progress at the end of the year. By the end
of 1923 the work was completed, the building erected and equipped. The
accommodation provides for a ward for six infants, and there are also two small
wards, each for a mother and infant, and an isolation ward. In the suite of rooms
on the north side of the ground floor there is the necessary accommodation for
ante-natal and infant welfare consultations and for a dental clinic. The main hall
of the building has been provided for dinners to nursing and expectant mothers,
for use as a waiting room, for lectures and other purposes incidental to Maternity
and Child Welfare Work.
The opening ceremony took place on the afternoon of Saturday, December
15th, His Worship the Mayor of Shoreditch (Mr. Alderman Parry) presiding.
The Earl of Elgin and Kincardine, on behalf of the Carnegie United Kingdom
Trust, formally handed over the institution to the Mayor, requesting him to accept
it on behalf of the Shoreditch Borough Council. In the course of his remarks the
Earl intimated that the Trustees had selected Shoreditch because they felt that
it was a district in which such an institution was especially needed, having regard
to the conditions under which the people are living, and the enthusiasm for maternity
and child welfare work manifest in the Borough.
After accepting the Institution on behalf of the Borough, the Mayor asked Her
Royal Highness, Princess Mary, Viscountess Lascelles, to declare the building open.
Her Royal Highness thereupon declared the building open in the presence of about
200 citizens of Shoreditch and others invited to the ceremony, and afterwards made
a tour of inspection of the Institution, taking a keen interest in the building and
its equipment and the work intended to be carried on therein.
At the Ante-Natal and Consultative Maternity Centre of the City of London
Maternity Hospital the reports show that 417 cases were dealt with. Of these,
120 were examined by the obstetric surgeon attached to the Centre, the number
of examinations totalling 213, and the remainder were seen by the sister attached
to the Centre and advised upon the various aspects of their pregnancies. Special
features met with were : version in 7, albuminuria in 6, contracted pelvis in 16,
scabies 1, prolapse of vaginal wall 1, past history 5. In all cases the urine was tested.