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
London County Council 1911
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
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| Metropolitan borough* | No. of houses for which applications for certificates were received during 1911. | No. of tenements comprised therein. | No. of tenements for winch applications for certificates were made. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Granted. | Refused. | Deferred or withdrawn. | |||
| Hampstead | 6 | 12 | — | — | 12 |
| Holborn | 4 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 0 |
| Islington | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Kensington | 33 | 74 | 59 | 4 | 11 |
| Lambeth | 60 | 134 | 100 | 34 | — |
| Lewisham | 148 | 244 | 232 | 12 | — |
| Paddington | 6 | 37 | 35 | — | 2 |
| Poplar | — | — | None | — | — |
| St. Marylebone | 6 | 49 | 49 | — | — |
| St. Pancras | 11 | 30 | — | 17 | 13 |
| Shoreditch | 62 | 28 | 34 | — | |
| Southwark | 56 | ||||
| Stepney | 4 | 37 | 30 | 7 | — |
| Stoke Newington | — | — | — | — | — |
| Wandsworth | 127 | 269 | 239 | 24 | 6 |
| Westminster, City of | 6 | 40 | 35 | 5 | |
| Woolwich | None | ||||
Section 35 of the Housing and Town Planning Act extends to common lodging-houses at which
the charge does not exceed sixpence per night the provisions of Section 11 of the Revenue Act, and hence
reference is made in some of the reports to the action taken by medical officers of health in respect of
these houses. In certain instances modifications and improvements of houses were made by
keepers with a view to their obtaining exemption from inhabited house duty.
Factory and Workshop Act, 1901.
Section 132 of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, requires that every medical officer of health
shall every year report specifically on the administration of the Act in workshops and workplaces in the
district under his supervision. A form of table is prescribed by the Home Secretary and contains a
summary of the inspections made and the defects found and remedied in workshops and factories,
together with other information that lends itself to statistical statement.
It will be seen from the following table, comparing the work done in 1911 with that done in previous years that there is little variation from year to year in the number of defects found, although there has been some increase in the number of workshops under inspection.
| 1905. | 1906. | 1907. | 1908. | 1909. | 1910. | 1911. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of workshops on register | ||||||||
| Number of inspections, excluding inspections of outworkers' premises | ||||||||
| Total number of defects found | ||||||||
| Want of cleanliness | ||||||||
| Want of ventilation | ||||||||
| Overcrowding | ||||||||
| Sanitary conveniences | Insufficient | |||||||
| Unsuitable or defective | ||||||||
| Not separate for sexes | ||||||||
Workshops.
Dr. Collingridge, medical officer of the City, again comments on the fact that workplaces, however
unsuitable, may be brought into use without notice, and that unless nuisance can be proved the unsatisfactory
conditions cannot be remedied. In the Camberwell report, there is mention of a case of
scarlet fever occurring in a house occupied by a furrier, necessitating the disinfection of several hundred
pounds' worth of furs, which was, however, successfully carried out. Dr. Parkes again calls attention to
the unsatisfactory condition as regards lighting, warming, and ventilation of the 54 basement workrooms
in Chelsea, which have accommodation for some 400 workers. Dr. Whitehouse, medical officer of
health of Deptford, comments upon the generally satisfactory condition of the home of the woman outworker,
which, he states, is often more cleanly than that of the woman who is not a homeworker. This
fact was also observed in Kensington, by Dr. Sandilands. Dr. Thomas gives some interesting particulars
of the outworkers in Finsbury. Incidentally he mentions that 80 per cent. of the whole number were
apparently well. 20 per cent. were ailing. There were 9 cripples and 4 persons with phthisis. It is
remarked that the boxmakers had a lower standard of cleanliness than other persons and their homes
were more frequently verminous. In the Hampstead report, mention is made of the discovery that an
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