Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hanover Square, The Vestry of the Parish of Saint George]
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Boys. | Girls. | Infants. | Total. | |
---|---|---|---|---|
St. Barnabas' School | 108 | 80 | 160 | 848 |
St. Barnabas' Schools, Mixed | — | — | 84 | 84 |
Eaton Chapel Schools | 73 | 72 | 21 | 166 |
Catholic Schools, Belgravia | — | — | 150 | 150 |
The result of our inspection as to vaccination was quite satisfactory.
We are also able to report some improvement in the
cleanliness of the children, especially in the St. Mark's district,
where the very able and conscientious masters and mistresses
have often a very rough material to deal with. This is also the
case at the Catholic schools, which are resorted to by the Irish
children, amongst whom the whole standard of cleanliness is not
so high as amongst the English, and amongst whom skin disease
and eye disease abound in consequence. We confess we have been
tempted in all these schools to wish that the duty of personal
cleanliness and attention to the laws of health were enforced as
being a part of the law of God.
In most of the schools the arrangements for stowing away
the infants' clothes are very objectionable: so, too, is the construction
of those galleries in which rows of infants are closely
packed together.
Local Censuses—Overcrowding.
In order still further to promote vaccination, we employ a
person from time to time to look up children who have been born
within a few months, but have not been vaccinated; for which
purpose we procure for the Registrars lists of children born within
a year, and not known to have been vaccinated.
At other times the messenger is sent into every room of every
house in low districts, so as to find out unvaccinated children who
may not have been born in the parish; and at the same time to
note the numbers of the inhabitants, that we may judge of the
extent of overcrowding.
Thus in February and March 1865, the following were the results of a petty census compared with the numbers of the Census of 1851:—
Houses. | Adult inhabitants. | Children under 14. | Total. | Census 1851. | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hertford-place | 10 | 87 | 81 | 156 | 173 |
May's-buildings | 6 | 64 | 36 | 100 | 122 |
Robert-street | 29 | 232 | 136 | 358 | 500 |
Thomas-street | 26 | 231 | 199 | 430 | 600 |
Tom's-court | 5 | 42 | 40 | 82 | 101 |
Hanover-place, Oxford-street | 16 | 154 | 90 | 244 | 301 |
Dolphin-court | 5 | 27 | 17 | 44 | 49 |
Weaver's-court | 8 | 32 | 22 | 54 | 55 |
Eaton-place, North-row | 5 | 20 | 13 | 33 | 62 |
George-street, Grosvenor-square, Lancashire-court and other
places were visited, but not so systematically. It must be
remembered that a private individual cannot go with the authority
of a Census Enumerator; still, making every allowance, it is
clear that over-crowded as the people may be, they are less so
than in 1851.