National Birthday Trust Fund

The National Birthday Trust Fund (NBTF) was established in 1928 and campaigned in the 1930s for the wider provision of analgesia in childbirth and improvements in midwifery services. Through the Joint Council on Midwifery it conducted extensive surveys on the benefits of ante-natal care and nutrition and an important survey of abortion practice (the collection includes the completed questionnaire forms). After the war it contributed to several government reports on maternity provision, provided research grants for various projects connected with congenital defects and maternity services, and conducted a series of surveys, including a survey into premature births (for which there are completed questionnaires). These culminated in the Perinatal Mortality Survey in 1958, which formed the basis for the cohort studies of the development of the children at seven year intervals. The collection includes the administrative records for the Perinatal Mortality Survey and the similar study, the British Births Survey, 1970. In 1993 the NBTF was amalgamated with the charity Birthright which works in the same area of maternal and infant care.