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TOWN HALL, BARKING,
ESSEX
November, 1949
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Borough of Barking.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are now nearly half way through a century, a century which
so far as health is concerned has been distinguished for the
improvements which have been made.
This the present century is very different from the latter half
of the previous century, when the accent was upon environment,
that is, the conditions under which people are living, rather than
upon the personal lives of these same people.
It is to emphasise the spirit of the present age that I have
made this a personal report in which I want to tell you something
of the lives of John and Mary, of the problems which they brought
to me, and, what is more, of their difficulties and something of
their conversations with me.
There are thousands and thousands of Johns and Marys in
Barking, and it is through this book that I would like to speak to
each one of them, and it is to these Johns and Marys that I have
dedicated this Report.
I am,
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Your obedient servant,
Medical Officer of Health