Romsey heritage: Schoolchildren in 1930s found to be 'unclean'

What the term ‘unclean’ meant is not defined in the annual report of the School Medical Service. 

It might simply mean ‘dirty’, but it could have included tiresome conditions such as head lice or fleas or impetigo. It would not have included leprosy.

According to the Romsey Advertiser, the report consisted of 42 pages who printed a lengthy summary of the findings.

The Medical Officer of Health for Hampshire, Dr Cronk, reported that the County was responsible for 333 schools providing for 44,046 children. (I love the detailed and unlikely accuracy of that figure). The average attendance was 91.05 per cent of the possible.

He reported on the diets of the County’s children, stating that between 17 and 24 per cent had excellent diets, 72 to 78 per cent ‘normal’, four per cent slightly sub-normal and between 0.02 and 0.08 per cent were bad. Those 727 children whose diets were the least satisfactory were provided with free milk at school.

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The County was putting pressure on schools to provide milk for all who wanted it, either in liquid or dried form and the report commented on how much children benefitted from it.

It is easy to forget that even as late as the 1940s milk was not always safe. Of the 292 schools that provided milk, 191 took pasteurised milk, 40 restricted themselves to tuberculin-tested and 61 had ‘undesignated’ milk.

Hampshire produced a leaflet on what to include in children’s packed lunches. It recommended a balanced selection of food such as meat or cheese sandwiches, a bit of salad and some fruit. Amongst the unsuitable foods were listed were bread and margarine and, surprisingly, meat pasties. It said that the food should not be wrapped in newspaper.

Children’s sight was tested and as a result, some were then treated for squint – a condition one rarely sees nowadays but which must have been a considerable drawback to those afflicted with it.
The report included, as you might expect, the figures for infectious diseases affecting school children, such as diphtheria, scarlet fever, measles, German measles, whooping cough, mumps and chicken pox. 1938 was an epidemic year for measles when it affected 3606 children, compared with the next highest reported disease which was chicken pox with 871 cases.

All these steps were part of the general trend to improve the health of the nation in the mid-twentieth century, which, of course, started with the need to ascertain the facts and identify particular problems.