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(1) To visit the homes of the-poor and give advice on matters
of Home Hygiene including proper clothing and feeding of
infants.
(2) To visit houses in the district where diarrhoea, measles
and whooping cough were prevalent, and instruct the relatives
as to the necessity of isolation and proper care of
the sick.
The ladies to be appointed were to be trained nurses of tact and
education who should wear uniforms, and one of whom should be able to
speak Yiddish.
The Public Health Committee recommended the appointments to the
Council, but the Council rejected the scheme by 29 votes to 17.
Following this failure, a "well-known nobleman" associated with
an outside society offered to pay the salary of a Health Visitor for
the Limehouse district for 2 years, and the Committee were thus enabled
to appoint a Miss Forrester, who worked in Limehouse for two or
three years and then was transferred to another district in Stepney
for two years. She commenced her duties on 1st October 1903. Dr.
Thomas records that her efforts were apparently successful and that the
infant mortality rate of Limahouse was lowered during hor period of office.
In October 1906 the Women's Industrial Council approached the
Council to appoint a health visitor, and in 1907 a deputation from the
Stepney Visitors Association came before the Council urging the appointment
of a visitor who should be a woman Sanitary Inspector. A subcommittee
approved the proposal for a woman "Sanitary Inspector and
Health Visitor" for a period of-twelve months, but the full Health
Committee could not see its way to agree.
In March 1908 a deputation from the Stepney Council of Public
Welfare, including the Bishop of Stepney, addressed the. Council and
made a similar request, which was however not passed by the Council.
Dr.Thomas, in his report of 1908, commenting upon this matter,
observed that most districts with a population of over 100,000 had
already appointed a woman sanitary inspector; that 22 Metropolitan
Boroughs had appointed between them 39 female sanitary inspectors,
and only six remained to do so. These women sanitary inspectors did
some of the work now done by Health Visitors.
However, the Council may have considered that much work was
already being done by voluntary associations in Stepney.
The Notification of Births Act, 1907, gave power to Local
Authorities to appoint Health Visitors, and the London County Council
(General Powers) Act, 1908, strengthened these powers in London, enabling
the Borough Council to pay for the Health Visitor's salary.
The Borough Council on 28th July 1909 adopted the Notification
of Births Act, 1907, and the Act came into force in the Borough on
8th September 1909. The Borough Council then appointed its first
Municipal Health Visitor, who commenced duties on 1st February 1910.
This lady wa3 the late Miss Virtue who remained in the service of the
Council until her death in November 1931. Meantime much voluntary
effort was being made for maternity and child welfare in the Borough.
In 1908 the Stepney Infant Welfare Centre and School for Mothers
(v)