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
Holborn 1931
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Holborn Borough]
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22
It is found that changes frequently occur in the occupation of workshops. To
obtain information of such changes and further details of industrial conditions in the
Borough a large number of visits and inspections were made in addition to the routine
inspections mentioned above. As the result of these visits 57 premises no longer used
for the purpose for which they had been registered were removed from the register of
workshops. In some cases, owing to the introduction of machinery, former "workshops"
had become "factories" and the necessary transfer to the factory register was effected.
Variations in the staff employed were also frequently reported. During the year 56
workshops were added to the register.
At the end of the year there were 610 workshops on the register.
330 employed men only,
53 employed women only, and
227 employed both men and women.
The number of employees is often very small and many of the workshops are in
tenement houses (houses let in lodgings).
No fewer than 152 different industries are carried on in these workshops, among the principal being the following :—
| No. of Workshops employing | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men only. | Women only. | Both Sexes. | Total. | |
| Boot makers and repairers | 15 | — | 1 | 16 |
| Builders | 12 | — | — | 12 |
| Carpenters | 10 | — | — | 10 |
| Clock and watch makers | 13 | — | 2 | 15 |
| Dressmakers and ladies' tailors | 1 | 17 | 21 | 39 |
| Diamond mounters | 8 | — | 3 | 11 |
| Engravers | 13 | — | 2 | 15 |
| Glass blowers | 6 | — | 2 | 8 |
| Jewellers | 46 | — | 11 | 57 |
| Leather goods makers | 6 | — | 6 | 12 |
| Metalworkers | 6 | — | 4 | 10 |
| Tailors | 31 | 4 | 59 | 94 |
Factories.
These visits also afforded an opportunity for extending and revising information
relating to "factories" in the Borough. Steps are being taken for the gradual
compilation of a register of such places, and at the end of the year 438 factories were
on the register. Workshops are automatically converted, at a very small cost, into
factories by the installation of a small electric motor ; the health conditions then may
no longer be inspected by the Borough Council's staff except as regards sanitary
accommodation.
The 438 factories include 50 different industries. In 213 cases men only were
employed, in 18 women only, and in 207 both sexes.
The more important industries carried on in these factories are :—
Bookbinding 18
Engineering 45
Jewellers' work 14
Metal work 12
Printing 98