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fish at a street stall and went home to breast-feed the baby at meal
times, or had the infant brought to her at her stall if trade were
busy. The father was a cloth shrinker out of work.
5. The baby was 3 weeks old and the seventh child. Five
lived. The family occupied 3 rooms. The baby was breast-fed
and in good condition. The home was clean. The mother made
cardboard boxes at home, but gave up her work shortly before
her confinement. The father had consumption of the lungs and
had been away to a sanatorium, but discharged himself prematurely
in order that he might proceed home to take care of the
children when the mother was confined. The father slept with
the mother and the baby, and was said to cough all day and night.
One girl slept alone in a small bedroom. Three boys slept in
another room. The sleeping accommodation was rearranged by
the health visitor. The father now slept by himself in the small
room. The eldest girl slept with her mother. The baby slept in a
banana crate..
6. The baby was 12 days old and the second child. One child
had died. The family occupied one room. The father was said
to "pick up a few pence" labouring in the market as a casual
porter. The mother was a french polisher, insufficiently clad.
She had no clothes "decent enough to go out in"; she had pawned
them. When she went out she borrowed clothes from "the lady
upstairs." There was no food in the tenement. The baby was
eventually overlain while in bed with its parents.
7. The baby was 2 weeks old. There had been 7 children and
6 still lived. The family occupied one room at a weekly rental
of 4s. The baby was clean and well cared for. The room was
very dirty. The father was a porter, and when he worked earned
2s. 6d. a day. He said he had "a pain in the back so shocking
that one day's work knocked him up for a week." The mother
sold lemons and beetroot in market streets and sometimes made a
profit of 2s. a day.