West Yorkshire Archive Service has been asked to provide copies of
pregnancy registers for the Borough of Huddersfield 1916-1932 for a
university research project which aims to study changes in fertility and
mortality in the first half of the twentieth century, and to clarify the
link between childhood conditions and subsequent current adult illnesses.
The records give details of all the pregnancies and resulting mortality for
women living in Huddersfield in this period, as well as sometimes yielding
information on medical topics such as the pelvic size of pregnant women and
the birth weight of their children.
The researcher's intention is to computerise these records and to produce a
CD-ROM of the information.
We would value advice on how to respond to this request, in view of the
requirements of the Data Protection Act. We cannot readily anonymise the
information and, in any case, it seems that there may be a wish to link
information to current patients. It would be quite possible for a number
of people still to be alive who were pregnant in the years up to 1932.
What do you think?
Sylvia Thomas
County Archivist
West Yorkshire Archive Service
Registry of Deeds, Newstead Road
Wakefield
WF1 2DE
[log in to unmask]
|