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4. The parents, 3 children and a baby occupied 2 rooms, but
lived and slept in one room, because they had no furniture to
put in the other room. The children slept on an uncovered,
dilapidated mattress on the floor. The baby died. Its dead body
was retained in the living room until its burial.
5. The mother was 34 years old, and had suffered from
phthisis for 3 years. The father was a casual porter and earned
12s. to 14s. per week. The family consisted of the parents, 3
boys and 1 girl, aged from 13 years to 3 years, and the baby 11
months. They occupied 2 rooms containing 829, and 703 cubic
feet of air space—they were both dirty and verminous. The
mother was advised to enter the poor law infirmary, but refused,
as she did not wish to wean the baby which had a cough, and
was itself presumably becoming consumptive.
6. The father had phthisis, had been ill for 8 years, and was
out of work. The mother was wasting and spitting blood. She
had had 8 children, of whom 4 were now living, aged 10, 5, 3
years, and one month respectively. Four children had died of
tuberculosis. The baby was healthy, and weighed 9 lbs. They
occupied 2 rooms—which were both clean, but stuffy.
7. A complaint was received from school that the children
suffered from sore faces, sore bodies, and scabbed heads. The
tenement was visited and found to consist of one small room,
800 cubic feet, occupied by the parents and 5 children, 8, 7, 6,
3 years, and the baby 9 months. The children were unwashed
at mid-day. The windows were shut, the rooms smelt offensively,
and were filthy and verminous. The tenement had been completely
stripped and cleansed only a few weeks previously before
the present occupants became tenants.
8. The father was out of work. The mother was out looking
for work. Two twins, each 12 days old, were left at home in
the sole charge of a boy 10 years old. One twin died.
9. The tenement consisted of 2 rooms occupied by a woman .
and her 5 children, 13, 9, 5 years, 18 months, and 6 weeks