London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Stepney 1905

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Stepney]

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22 in the Stepney Workhouse. The women who gave birth to these 127
were residents of the Limehouse District, and were confined during the period
they were in-patients. Deducting this number the rate would be 30.7.
The birth-rate in St. George's was 41.6, or 2.2 per 1,000 less than in the
previous year; though 72 births are included this year, to which no allusion
would have been made in previous years. Of these 72 births, 59 occurred
in the Mothers' Home, 8 in the London Hospital, 4 in the Whitechapel
Infirmary, and 1 in the Mile End Infirmary. Deducting this additional
number, the birth-rate would be 40.2 per 1,000.
The birth-rate in Mile End Old Town was 34 per 1,000 of the population.
This is 4.5 per 1,000 less than in the previous year. 372 births
occurred in 1905 in the Mothers' Lying-in Home, Commercial Road. This
institution is situated in Mile End, and in former years all the births would
be included in that district, though 86 only of the 372 women confined were
residents of Mile End.
58 births occurred in the Mile End Infirmary, of which 56 belonged
to Mile End, 1 to Limehouse, and 1 to St. George's. On the other hand,
9 Mile End residents gave birth in the Whitechapel Infirmary, 12 in the
London Hospital, 1 in Stepney Workhouse, and 3 in the City of London
Lying-in Hospital.
Calculating on the old basis the birth-rate would be 36.3 per 1,000, or
2.2 less than in 1904.
The birth-rate in the Whitechapel District was 1.4 less than in the
previous year, and if the calculations were made on the former basis, the
birth-rate would be lower still.
It will thus be seen that the birth-rate of the Limehouse District is similar
to that of the Whitechapel District, and that of Mile End is only slightly
higher.
The birth-rate of St. George's is by far the highest of any district in
London, and is 14.5 per 1,000 higher than that of London as a whole. The
reason is, probably, the fact that the old residents in recent years have
moved into the suburbs, and their houses have been taken by aliens who
are chiefly of the child-bearing age. Old houses have also been demolished,
and large model dwellings erected instead. These dwellings have also
been occupied by a similar class of people. It is therefore obvious that
when old residents leave, and their places taken by young married people,
the birth-rate must, for a few years, be above the average. The larger the