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NATIONAL ASSISTANCE ACT, 1948.
NATIONAL ASSISTANCE (Amendment) ACT, 1951.
SECTION 50. Section 50 of this Act imposes on the Council the
responsibility to bury or cremate any person found dead in the borough
where there are no relatives or friends to make the necessary arrangements.
It is also incumbent upon the Council to make extensive
inquiries, with the aid of the Coroner and the Police, to ensure that
there are no monies or estate from which the cost can be met.
On its North side, the borough is bounded for 3½ miles by the
River Thames and, during 1954, 8 male and 2 female bodies were
recovered on the foreshore. It is interesting to note that of these only
two were ultimately indentified as Bermondsey residents, the remainder
coming from as far away as Dublin, Liecester, and Folkestone. In the
majority of these cases, however, the bodies were identified by relatives
who made arrangements for burial.
The four cases reported below were also dealt with under this
Section of the Act: —
1. Mr. G., aged 74 yrs., who lived alone in a large block of flats
and was known by the Superintendent to be extremely ill had
refused to go to hospital and was in need of care and attention.
A member of the staff who called at Mr. G's address within
ten minutes of the case being reported, found the front door
unlocked but barricaded on the inside by a chair. After
entry was effected, the occupant of the flat was found to be
dead in bed, fully clothed. The room and the bed were both
very dirty and it was obvious that Mr. G., had been incapable
of looking after himself for some time. The police were
informed and as there was no evidence of foul play, the
matter was referred to the Coroner, who issued a certificate
following a post mortem, it having been found that death
was due to natural causes. No relatives could be traced and
the Department arranged for the burial, the cost of which
was met by cash in the deceased's possession and sums
recovered from the National Assistance Board.
2. The death of Mr. S., aged 68 yrs., was reported to us by his
landlady, who requested the Department to arrange for his
burial. No National Assistance or Retirement Pension
payments were due, and no money or articles of value were
found among the deceased's effects. The cost of the interment
was borne by the Council.
3. The Department was notified that a female body in a decomposed
condition had been discovered in a flat in one of the
tenements in the borough. On inquiry it was found that the
woman had been living in the flat at intervals whilst acting
as housekeeper to the tenant who had been in hospital for
some weeks. All that could be ascertained was that the