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187
[1902
Homeworkers.—In accordance with Section 107 of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901,
manufacturers and contractors are required to keep correct lists of the names and addresses of
homeworkers whom they employ in certain trades, and to send copies of the lists to the District
Sanitary Authority on or before the 1st February and the 1st August in each year. In
Islington it was found necessary at both dates to send notices to most of the employers, reminding
them of their obligations under the Act. The lists received have, with the exception of a
few from upholsterers, come from manufacturers of wearing apparel.
The names and addresses of 564 female homeworkers who receive work from Islington employers
have been forwarded to the Medical Officers of Health for the districts in which they
live. As the addresses given are sometimes very vague, it has cost a considerable amount of
trouble to find out which was the correct authority to notify. Notifications have been sent to the
Medical Officers of 38 districts.
During the year the names and addresses of 542 homeworkers who reside in Islington have
been received from other districts, principally from the City of London, Finsbury and Hackney.
I have during the year called on 690 homeworkers whom I had not previously visited. Of these,
118 had removed or had given up work, or were not known at the addresses given. I inspected
the homes of 572 workers. In three cases I was refused admitance on my first visit, but on my
calling again after a letter of warning had been sent, I was allowed to inspect the rooms. The
majority of the homes were satisfactory from a sanitary point of view, though, on the other
hand, some were very dirty and untidy. In one room I found underclothing being made where
children were recovering from measles, and in another a patient suffering from erysipelas was
busy making shirts. I have not found any foreign women employed as homeworkers in the
Borough.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
JESSY M. S GRAY,
Sanitary Inspector.
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