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METROPOLITAN BOROUGH OF STEPNEY
PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT,
43, White Horse Road,
Stepney, E.l.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney.
Your Worship, Ladies & Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present my report on the
state of the public health in Stepney for the year 1950.
The estimated population of the Borough shows
some decrease and is "estimated" by the Registrar-General
to be 99,730.
The total number of births registered has however
slightly increased, and is 1,888 compared with 1,872 last
year. The live birth rate is 18.50.
It is pleasant to record that the infant mortality
rate of 26,55 is the lowest recorded in the history of the
Borough, and is in fact below the average figure for England
and Wales, viz. 29.8.
The maternal mortality rate is 1.05.
The Borough of Stepney was formed in 1901 from
the union of the parishes of Mile End Old Town and St.
George's in the East and the districts of the Limehouse and
Whitechapel Boards of Works including the Tower of London.
This year, 1950, is the Golden Jubilee of the
Borough. During the fifty years which have elapsed the
state of the public health has greatly Improved.
It is interesting to glance through the early
annual reports of Dr. Daniel Thomas, the Borough's first
Medical Officer of Health.
In 1901 Stepney with a population of 298,600 was
the third most populous borough in London, only exceeded by
Islington and Lambeth, and-much gross overcrowding existed.
There were 31>462 inhabited houses in the Borough and an
average of 9.4 persons per house. In 1938, just before the
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