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67
Smiths' Buildings, Swan Yard, and Water's Court. Typical of these is Water's
Court of which Dr. Ballard wrote :—
"None of the houses have any ventilation through them. The rooms are very
small ; they vary in capacity from about 830 to 1,600 cubic feet, but however
small, we almost constantly find each room occupied by a family. The rooms
in Nos. 6 and 7, and No. 15 appear the smallest of any, and during the past
year we have found in single rooms of these houses families numbering from
four to six persons, exclusive of friends now and then accommodated for the
night At the further end of the South side of the court is the common privy,
than which I can conceive of nothing more disgusting. It consists of an iron
tank intended to hold water, but never containing any, and seats of the ordinary
character are dispensed with as a luxury the low Irish of this court did not
appreciate. The population of the court is about 130. Above the privies
is placed the water tank for the supply of the court, in which I have been
credibly informed the boys of the court have been seen bathing in the summer
time From time to time, during the past eight years, these courts have been
visited and reported upon by myself to the Sanitary Committee, and, bad as they
are now, their condition is not so bad as they were when first I took them in
hand
There was more smallpox in 1863, when 509 cases were reported, of whom 108
died. Dr. Ballard comments in regard to vaccination :—
"So far, then as Islington is concerned, one thing is quite clear, namely that
although vaccinated persons suffered from the epidemic smallpox appeared
in them in a mild form, and not one who had passed satisfactorily through
the protective malady died of smallpox."
There was also an epidemic of scarlet fever, which was then even more
dangerous than smallpox. There were 672 cases with a total mortality of 392.
Islington, in spite of the high death rate, was growing rapidly in the 1860's.
Dr. Ballard remarked in 1864:—
"Not only have we an excess of young people in Islington, but we have, as
compared with the whole Metropolis, a smaller proportion of old people.
Our elderly persons over 60 years of age form 85 per thousand of the
population."
(1951—Persons over 65 years of age numbered 110 per thousand.) As might be
expected with the increase in new housing, a large immigration into Islington,
mainly of young people, was going on. Of the occupations of these persons Dr.
Ballard mentions :—
"We have among us an excess of Law Clerks, Commercial Clerks, Schoolmasters,
Printers, Goldsmiths, Jewellers, Watchmakers, Butchers, Carpenters
and Joiners, Bricklayers, Plasterers and Brickmakers. In the remaining five
we stand more or less below London generally as to number namely Publicans,
Bakers, Tailors, Shoemakers and Labourers. In the case of the females we
have a slight excess of Schoolmistresses, Dressmakers and Milliners, Washerwomen
and Domestic Servants. The class of Needlewomen (a poverty-striken
and most heterogeneous class of persons) is, with us a comparatively small
one."
Deaths in infants were a continual concern.
Dr. Ballard, naturally, was not satisfied with the rate of progress which was
being made, and he complained in the following terms
" And if many of the circumstances which I have shown to influence the
mortality of young children be not in your power to remove now, yet as