Poor parenting, growing child neglect and a rising infant mortality rate in the town caused concern at a meeting of Luton Town Council on Tuesday, May 30th, 1916.

In a week in which eight children had been sent to the Luton Workhouse to be put under the care of Poor Law authorities following NSPCC prosecutions of two sets of Dunstable parents, the Local Government Board was again urging Luton Council to appoint a second health visitor.

The Council had previously decided to postpone a decision until the end of the war, and when the issue was raised again in committee there was a 3-3 split on advertising for a second health visitor at a salary of £85 a year.

At the Tuesday Council meeting, Town Clerk Mr William Smith said the Local Government Board were prepared to pay 50 per cent of the expenses incurred by the appointment of an additional health visitor.

Councillor Walter Primett said the Board were satisfied that Luton had done better than some authorities in the past, but they were bringing pressure to bear throughout the country to try to save the young life of the country, especially now that so many brave lives were being sacrificed.

The infant mortality rate had increased during 1915 to 130 per thousand, which was a great jump from the 86 per thousand of the previous year. Since they had a health visitor only on two occasions since 1896 had it reached 110 until last year.

Some might think it was an inopportune time to increase expense, but it was their duty as a health committee to first of all save life where possible. Had the Mayor not been called away from the committee the appointment of a second health visitor would have been carried.

And Councillor Murry Barford said had he not been absent on national work he would certainly have voted for the appointment.

Alderman Williams said that as a member of the Tribunal he had noted that couples had fewer children. It was a very serious question is such a state of things became general, and made it all the more necessary that such children as were born should be thoroughly well looked after.

After Councillor Escott said it would be a great comfort to absent fathers to know their children were being look after, Councillor Bone said he sometimes thought the Council were taking a little too much on themselves. They were acting as though the children had no mothers.

Many mothers would look upon it as an intrusion for a young woman to enter their home and instruct, say, a mother of five or six children on how she should bring them up.

Councillor Yarrow said parents must be brought to a sense of their duty and he did not understand how a health visitor in any way took away a parent's responsibility. The advice of health visitors was greatly needed, and they were to have half the expense defrayed for them.

Councillor Albert Oakley saw no reason for a second appointment. They had one health visitor who had paid 175 visits in the past month - six a day - and there was no more work to do than one person could accomplish. He favoured not making a second appointment during the war.

Councillor Walter Primett said, however, that with a terrible war going on it was imperative that parentless little ones were looked after. If we wished to keep our place in the sun all the lives that could be saved should be. Such work was anything but sentimental, it was eminently practical.

It was true Luton had one of the best centres ever started and a splendid maternity work was being done, but some parents did not appear to possess motherly instinct. They seemed only to glad to get rid of their children.

He recalled two cases in which lives had undoubtedly been saved. One, a normal child weighing 7 lbs at birth had wasted to 3 lbs before the nurse took the case in hand, and in a second instance a little one weighed less at five months than when born and was found in a dreadfully filthy and exhausted condition.

There had also been unmistakable signs of children having been drugged to keep them quiet. These wasted away and soon died. He knew of one family that had had three children - 8 months, 4 months and 7 weeks - that had wasted away.

It was an appalling jump from 86 to 130 per thousand. Luton had had a good record for 10 years. Some mothers were now worried about their soldier husbands and others took too much to drink. If they could only save six lives it would be money well spent. The paltry amount involved was nothing where life was concerned.

The resolution to appoint a second health visitor was carried by 17 votes to 4.

[The Luton News: Thursday, June 1st, 1916]