London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
London County Council 1909
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
This page requires JavaScript
The following figures, which are mainly taken from the annual reports, show the extent to which the existing shelters were used during the year 1909:—
| Sanitary area. | No. of persons accommodated. | Sanitary area. | No. of persons accommodated. |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of London | 24 | Kensington | (a) |
| Battersea | 20 | Lambeth | |
| Bermondsey | 39 | Lewisham | — |
| Bethnal Green | 17 | Paddington | (a) |
| Camberwell | — | Poplar | — |
| Chelsea | 58 | St. Marylebone | 39 |
| Deptford | — | St. Pancras | 23 |
| Finsbury | 22 | Shoreditch | 9 |
| Fulham | — | Southwark | 711 |
| Greenwich | 3 families | Stepney | 77 |
| Hackney | 83 | Stoke Newington | (used on 2 occasions) |
| Hammersmith | (a) | ||
| Hampstead | Wandsworth | 1 | |
| Holborn | 11(a) | Westminster, City of | 6 |
| Islington | 40 | Woolwich | ~ |
(a) No shelter is maintained by the Borough Council. In the case of Holborn, 11 persons were accommodated
in the Finsbury Borough Council's shelter.
Mortuaries. The number of bodies received into the mortuaries of the several sanitary authorities during the year is shown in the following table:—
| Sani tary area. | Total number of bodies received into mortuary. | Number of infectious bodies received into mortuary. | Sanitary area. | Total number of bodies received into mortuary. | Number of infectious bodies received into mortuary. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of London | 205 | Kensington | 323 | 2 | |
| Battersea | 269 | 11 | Lambeth | 369 | 2 |
| Bermondsey | 207 | 14 | Lewisham | 141 | 3 |
| Bethnal Green | 342 | 6 | Paddington | 288 | 2 |
| Camberwell | 321 | 8 | Poplar | 287 | 1 |
| Chelsea | 159 | 3 | St. Marylebone | 374 | 4 |
| Deptford | 95 | 2 | St. Pancras | 412 | 11 |
| Finsbury | 308 | 7 | Shoreditch | 392 | 5 |
| Fulham | 164 | 2 | Southwark | 680 | 6 |
| Greenwich | 131 | — | Stepney | 645 | 6 |
| Hackney | 467 | 6 | Stoke Newington | 44 | — |
| Hammersmith | 234 | 4 | Wandsworth | 206 | — |
| Hampstead | 85 | — | Westminster, City of | 291 | 6 |
| Holborn | 97 | — | Woolwich | 146 | 1 |
| Islington | 592 | 1 | |||
The Cleansing of Persons.
The provision for the cleansing of verminous persons still remains very inadequate in London
as a whole, but in some districts more suitable accommodation has been provided than in others.
The number of persons cleansed in 1909 is shown in some of the annual reports, and the following
table has been compiled mainly from the information thus supplied:—
| Sanitary area. | Adults. | Children. | Sanitary area. | Adults. | Children. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battersea | 1,373 | 321 | Poplar | 647 | 96 |
| Bermondsey | 91 | 927 | St. Marylebone | 11,114 | 4,684 |
| Bethnal Green | 14 | 1 | St. Pancras | 2,217 | 3,367 |
| Camberwell | 100 | 2,225 | Southwark | 111 | 2,324 |
| Finsbury | 2 | — | Stepney | 570 | 313 |
| Hackney | 177 | 490 | Stoke Newington | 5 | 140 |
| Holborn | 219 | — | Wandsworth | 23 | 12 |
| Islington | 31 | 1,205 | Westminster, City of | 6 | — |
| Kensington | 18(a) | — | Woolwich | 115 | 293 |
| Lambeth | — | ||||
(a) Dealt with by the Board of Guardians at the expense of the Kensington Borough Council, (b) Lambeth—
See houses infested with vermin, page 85.