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
Kensington 1895
The annual report on the health, sanitary condition, &c., &c., of the Parish of St. Mary Abbotts, Kensington for the year 1895
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THE HOUSING OF THE WORKING CLASSES.
Bye-laws fop. Houses Let in Lodgings or occupied by
Members of more than one Family.
Under the provisions of the Sanitary Acts of 1866 and
1874, regulations were made by your Vestry, in 1885, and
some 1,500 houses have been registered thereunder. The said
Acts having been repealed, and modified provisions for bye-laws
enacted in the Public Health (London) Act, 1801, the Local
Government Board addressed a circular letter on the subject to
the Sanitary Authorities in 1892, and again in 1894. In the
latter communication the Board point out that the powers
conferred by the new Act (section 94) " differ in some respects
from those exerciseable under section 35 of the Sanitary Act,
1866, and section 47 of the Sanitary Law Amendment Act
1874, in pursuance of which the regulations now in force in
(this) district were made inasmuch as section 94 of the new
Act " no longer provides that such matters as the enforcement
of privy accommodation, the paving of premises, the notices to
be given in cases of infectious or contagious disease, the
cleansing of cisterns, or the keeping of water-closets in good
order, &c., shall be dealt with by regulations applicable to
houses let in lodgings. These matters," it is added, " can be
otherwise dealt with, in some cases by bye-laws made by the
Sanitary Authority and applicable generally to all houses in
the district, whether let in lodgings or not, and in others by
bye-laws made by the London County Council." The Board's
letter was accompanied by copies of " a model series of byelaws,
which they have caused to be prepared for the use of
Sanitary Authorities under section 94 of the Act and it was
stated that " these model forms were drawn up after very
careful consideration by the Board of the regulations which
might be properly enforced in the case of the class of houses
to which the enactment applies." The Board's model clauses
deal with none of the subjects referred to, and it was suggested
that your Vestry's existing regulations should be