London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Islington 1896

Forty-first annual report on the health and sanitary condition of the Parish of St. Mary, Islington

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151
[1896
A careful perusal of Miss Gray's report, and especially of the Table
appended to it, will give a better insight into her work than any
remarks that can be made upon it. It is full of interest to those who
desire to keep themselves acquainted with the labour question as it
exists in this Parish.
To Dr. A. E. Harris,
Medical Officer of Health.
The Vestry Hall,
Islington,
30th January, 1897.
Sir,
I have pleasure in laying bofore you a report of my work during 1896.
Register.—At the end of the year there are on the register 660 workshops and workplaces
in which women are employed and 150 "workshop" laundries—i.e., laundries in
which more than two persons are employed and in which no mechanical power is used.
Thirty-five different trades are carried on in the various workrooms. In the majority
articles of wearing apparel are manufactured, as shown in the following Table :—
Nature
of Business.
Number
of Workshops.
Dress-making 204
Tie-making 74
Millinery 62
Mantle-making 62
Blouse-making 47
Fur-sewing 45
Tailoring 28
Artificial Flower-making 28
Underclothing making 26
Beadwork 20
Leather and Fancy Goods making 15
Boot and Shoe making 8
Box-making 8
Miscellaneous 33
Two hundred and fifty-five workshops have been added to the register during the year.
Inspections.—I hare inspected 1,251 workshops, containing 1,990 workrooms, and I
hare made 1,061 calls and re-inspections.
In addition to the workshops and laundries on the register, I have visited numerous
small laundries in which only one or two persons are employed, and also the homes of
some of the female out-workers employed in the Parish.
Cleanliness.—I found 50 workrooms in a dirty condition ; these have been cleansed and
whitewashed.
Ventilation.—In nine workrooms, which were insufficiently ventilated, additional
ventilators have been provided. In my experience, it is only in those workrooms in which