View report page

Health Department,
Town Hall,
Tottenham, N. 15.
The Worshipful the Mayor,
Aldermen and Councillors
of the Borough of Tottenham.
Mr. Mayor, My Lady, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit the Annual Report on the Health
of the Borough for the year ended the 31st December, 1955. This
report is the 102nd in the series submitted annually since the
appointment of Dr. William Hall in 1853 as Tottenham's first
Medical Officer of Health; and the 20th which it is my privilege
to present to the Councils.
A hundred years ago Tottenham was an exclusive and quiet
little suburban town. The introduction of the railways in the
mid—nineteenth century led to rapid expansion of the population;
and a twist to the character of the district: setting it off to
swallow up the whole of the ancient rural parish and later to face
problems of unplanned urbanisation. Years of endurance, failure
and success in Local Government followed this rapid expansion of
population which in the year 1934 had reached its peak of 154,000.
It was in this year the Town received a Royal Charter of Incorporation;
and with a strong and vigorous sense of civic responsibil
ity the newly constituted Borough took as its motto "Do well and
doubt not" embossed in English on the Borough Arms so that its
meaning and significance could be readily understood by all its
citizens.
Since the opening of the present century Tottenham has
deservedly earned a high reputation for progressive and efficient
public administration; and many dramatic and striking improvements
have been made over the whole range of Local Government
activities.
In the provision of services for the prevention of disease
and the promotion of health in the community, full advantage has
been taken of the powers, obligatory and permissive, given by
successive health and welfare legislation. It came, therefore,
as a severe blow to the prestige of this Borough when in 1948.
under the provisions of the National Health Service Act, Tottenham
came to lose its full autonomy in the administration of the school
health and personal health services. The newly constituted Local
Health Authority had good reason, however, to be grateful to the