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 1905
Annual report on the health, sanitary condition, etc., etc., of the Royal Borough of Kensington for the year 1905
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Now that formalin is so much used for disinfecting, the need of a shelter is less felt than
formerly; it is the fact, moreover, that people generally prefer to make their own arrangements,
rarely making use of the shelter where provided. Should the Council decide to fit up a station for
cleansing of persons, it would be an economical arrangement to combine with it a shelter.
PUBLIC MORTUARY.
Bodies were deposited at the Mortuary to the number of 338, upon applications as follows:—
1. At the request of the relatives of the deceased
3
2. At the request of undertakers, mainly at the instance of the relieving
officers
122
3. At the request of the coroner (inquest cases): —
Cases of sudden death
111
Cases of violent death
71
182
4. Brought in by the Police—Persons found dead
16
Accident cases
4
20
5. On account of death due to infectious disease
11
338
In 119 of the above cases post-mortem examinations were made under the coroner's warrant.
Annual Number of Bodies taken into the Mortuary, etc., 1895—1905.
| Year. | No. of bodies received at the Mortuary. | No. of bodies upon which Coroner's inquests were held. | No. of bodies upon which post-mortem examinations were held. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1895 | 304 | 195 | 126 |
| 1896 | 289 | 204 | 126 |
| 1897 | 290 | 234 | 118 |
| 1898 | 275 | 215 | 111 |
| 1899 | 342 | 259 | 129 |
| 1900 | 317 | 244 | 106 |
| 1901 | 295 | 221 | 115 |
| 1902 | 273 | 187 | 92 |
| 1903 | 300 | 207 | 77 |
| 1904 | 334 | 206 | 90 |
| 1905 | 338 | 202 | 119 |
Complaint is occasionally made of improper detention in houses of the bodies of deceased
persons, on the supposition that the Council possess power to remove bodies to the public mortuary
at will. What the law enables the Council to do is set out in the 89th section of the Public
Health (London) Act, 1891, which provides that—