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26
STILL BIRTHS
The numbers of still births registered in the Borough during the calendar year
1937 are given in the following table:—

The birth rate for the Borough as a whole was 14.9. For England and Wales
the birth rate was 14.9 and for London 13.4. The illegitimate births numbered 47,
of which 20 were males and 27 females. Of these, 25, of which 11 were males, occurred
in St. Leonard's Hospital. The illegitimate births therefore represented 3.8 per cent.
of all the births in the Borough during the year.
The number of births which occurred in St. Leonard's Hospital was 602 :
299 males and 303 females. In 151 of these the parents were not Shoreditch residents.
The table on page 27 gives details of the birth rates for Shoreditch, London, and
for England and Wales since 1893.
The birth rate for 1937 was exactly the same as that for 1936. The birth rates for
different wards showed the usual variation, but corresponded roughly to the previous
year.
Last year the Shoreditch birth rate was again slightly higher than that for
London, and equal to that for England and Wales.
In 1934 the birth rate for Shoreditch was the highest of the rates for the Metropolitan
Boroughs; in 1935 four London Boroughs had higher rates; in 1936 this
number was increased to five, while the rate for one other Borough equalled that for
Shoreditch; and last year four Boroughs exceeded the rate in Shoreditch, while two
others equalled it. The conclusion must be accepted that this highly congested
Borough is no longer an area with a high birth rate. Some of the factors which have
possibly helped to bring about the reduction in the number of births were briefly
discussed in the Report for 1935.