London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Wandsworth 1865
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Wandsworth District, The Board of Works (Clapham, Putney, Streatham, Tooting & Wandsworth)]
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"The results obtainable from a chemical examination of these same waters, supplied
by me in 1854, to Dr. R. D. Thompson, who kindly undertook the analyses, will be best
understood by a table contrasting their Impurities with those of other waters of the
metropolis examined in the same year.
Table exhibiting the Degrees or Grains per Gallon of Impurity of certain Metropolitan
Well Waters—Distilled water being taken as 0.
| Date. | Situation of Wells. | Total Impurity in Degrees or Total Residue Grains, | Organic Matter, and Nitric Acid. |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 18, 1854 | Aldgate pump | 49°10 | 13°94 |
| February, 1854 | Ditto | 44.64 | 6.30 |
| March, 1854 | St. Thomas's pump | 89.70 | 10.40 |
| May 15, 1854 | Camberwell | 62.07 | 10.69 |
| November 25, 1854. | Ditto | 48.72 | 7.26 |
| July 20, 1854 | Blackheath | 28.00 | |
| September, 1854 | Broad Street, Soho | 92.06 | 7.80 |
| „ „ | Buckingham Palace | 59.00 | 8.08 |
| „ „ | Charing Cross Artesian well, sup-plied at Buckingham Palace | 56.04 | 2.12 |
| November, 1854 | Putney, Cock's Buildings | 180.40 | 16.00 |
| „ „ | „ Price's Folly | 101.30 | 14.00 |
| „ „ | „ Stratford Grove | 67.20 | 14.80 |
"By a mere glance at this table it will be readily conceded that I had no slight
grounds for adhering to the opinion I formed several years ago, that the exceeding'y
impure water of Cock's Buildings, Price's Folly, and other places, had much to do, if
not with the production, certainly with the aggravation of many of the cases of
cholera which fell under my notice at that period amongst the inhabitants of these
cesspool-polluted neighbourhoods.
"Several cases of cholera of the severest character occurred in both the above named
localities, as well in 1848-9 as in 1854."
It will be observed that the notorious Broad Street well yielded
water in 1854 even more pure by several degrees than that pumped
from Cock's Buildings and Price's Folly in Putney, and from
Spencer's Court, Martin's Buildings, and other places in Wandsworth.
It is true many of the surface wells in both Wandsworth and
Putney have been closed since the above-named examinations took
place, but they still exist in sufficient numbers throughout the
District to cause much mischief. The Medical Officers of Health
consider that they would fail in their duty did they not strongly
urge the recommendation to close all surface wells, upon the consideration
of the authorities and inhabitants generally, and they
trust these supplemental remarks will not be considered out of
place at a crisis like the present.
August, 1866.