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
Battersea 1904
Report on the health of the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea for the year 1904
This page requires JavaScript
The following table shows the number of back-yards and forecourts wholly or partly paved during 1904. It will be seen that the work done in this connection was considerable, especially in the Winstanley Ward, where owing to the energy and tact of Inspector Purnell there has been a great improvement in back-yard sanitation.
| Ward. | Back-yards. | Forecourts. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wholly paved. | Partly paved. | Wholly paved. | Partly paved. | ||
| Paved as far as 12 feet or more from end of house. | Paved for a lesser distance than 12 feet. | ||||
| Nine Elms | 53 | 10 | 126 | 13 | 36 |
| Park | 138 | 2 | 6l | — | - |
| Latchmere | 20 | — | 67 | 6 | 10 |
| Shaftesbury | 47 | 15 | 49 | 12 | 1 |
| Church | 134 | 28 | 142 | 35 | 27 |
| Winstanley | 178 | 50 | 147 | 101 | 24 |
| St. John's | 4 | — | 15 | — | 3 |
| Bolingbroke | 22 | 23 | 30 | 8 | 44 |
| Broomwood | 2 | 27 | 9 | 2 | 29 |
| Totals | 588 | 155 | 646 | 177 | 174 |
It should be said that no attempt was made to enforce the
paving of any yard which was being really cultivated as a
garden. The yards which were paved were merely pieces of
waste land, usually in a dirty and untidy condition. The
paving of the ground round dwelling-houses is a very important
feature in urban sanitation. By preventing the pollution of
the soil it tends to prevent diarrhœa and other filth diseases.
Also, it has a good effect upon the tenants; a paved yard is
usually kept in a better condition than an unpaved yard.
Disinfection.
The total number of rooms disinfected during the year
was 1,637. In most cases the disinfectant used was formic
aldehyde, either volatised in an Alformant lamp or applied in