Luton War Babies

Baby in a perambulator, c.1910 [Z1261/1/13]

Saturday 16th February 1918: The Luton Board of Guardians is gravely concerned about the increasing problem of “war babies”. There have never been so many children in the Workhouse, most of them illegitimate. There are currently sixteen in the infirmary in addition to those being cared for in the infant section. Councillor Bone complained that the Government was “encouraging this sort of thing” because it wanted “all the babies they could possibly get”.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 12th February 1918