View report page

12
special case.
Dr. Aldis applied at the Westminster Police Court,
on April 11th, to procure the immediate interment of a
child three years of age, the daughter of poor persons,
living at No. 12, Spring Gardens, Pimlico. He
stated that Mr. Badderly, one of the overseers, had
informed him that the mother of the child, which had
died of small-pox, refused to allow it to be buried. The
overseer had sent William Osborne, who has charge of
the parish funerals, to take away the child, but the mother
screamed and made so much noise that a number of Irish
people immediately collected, and he was glad to leave
the place. He had placed the child in a coffin, but she
had taken it out and returned it to the place where it
had been previously laid. The husband stated that he
could not raise money to defray the expenses of a burial,
and therefore wished the child to be removed, and be
interred by the parish; but the wife objected to this, and
wished it to remain until 6he could raise sufficient money
by subscription to inter it herself. On April 10th, Dr.
Aldis went to the house with Mr. Grant, to endeavour
to persuade the wife to have the body removed, but she
positively refused. The child lay exposed in a small back
room, in which three other children and the father and
mother lived and slept, and, although it was only a six
roomed house, it was tenanted by 26 souls, all of whom
were necessarily exposed to the influence of contagion.
Small-pox was prevalent in the district.
Mr. Selfe believed that he had no power to interfere
in such a case, but thought it highly essential that the
body should be removed as soon as possible. Acting
under the authority of the father, who was desirous that
the child should be interred, he thought that the parish