London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Woolwich 1938
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Woolwich]
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15
Natural Increase of Population.— This term means the excess of births over
deaths. In 1934 it was 350: in 1935, 553; in 1936, 368; in 1937, 465, and in
1938, 483.
Notification of Births.— During the year 2,290 live births were notified. This
is at the rate of 98.7 per cent, of the registered births and compares with 100.4
per cent, last year. The births were notified as shown in the following Table :—
TABLE No. 5.
| British Hospital for Mothers and Babies | 831 |
| Midwives | 532 |
| St. Nicholas Hospital | 411 |
| Military Families Hospital | 192 |
| Woolwich War Memorial Hospital | 185 |
| Eltham Cottage Hospital | 59 |
| Medical Practitioners | 39 |
| Parents | 9 |
| Midwives Homes | 6 |
| Other Persons | 26 |
TABLE No. 6.
| Year. | No. of Births. | No. of Live Births. Notified. | No. of Still-Births Notified. | Percentage of Births Notified. | Birth Rate. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woolwich. | London. | England and Wales. | |||||
| 1934 | 2,000 | 2,334 | 75 | 99 | 13.7 | 13.2 | 14.8 |
| 1935 | 2,053 | 2,405 | 81 | 99 | 14.0 | 13.3 | 14.7 |
| 1936 | 2,017 | 2,349 | 55 | 99 | 13.8 | 13.6 | 14.8 |
| 1937 | 2,125 | 2,423 | 75 | 100 | 14.2 | 13.4 | 14.9 |
| 1938 | 2,059 | 2,290 | 69 | 99 | 13.6 | 13.4 | 15.1 |
In addition to these, 152 notifications were received from the Medical Officer
of Health, Lewisham; 102 from the Medical Officer of Health, Greenwich; and
60 from other Medical Officers of Health; 589 births were transferred to other
areas. Sixty-nine still-births were notified; 21 of which were transferred to other
areas. It is known that 1,414 Woolwich births took place in institutions, either
within or without the Borough, so that the percentage of institutional midwifery
for the Borough was 68.7.
The following Table No. 6 shows the number of corrected births each year
since 1934, the number of live and still-births notified; the percentage of notified
births and the birth rates for the same period for Woolwich, London, and England
and Wales.