London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
City of Westminster 1912
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Westminster, City of]
This page requires JavaScript
many houses contain a number of outworkers. Notices were served in respect of 813 defects discovered in 400 houses. They may be summarised thus:—
| 1911 | 1912 | 1911 | 1912 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sanitary accommodation— | Walls and ceilings dirty | 248 | 280 | ||
| Rooms verminous | 22 | 58 | |||
| Insufficient | 3 | 7 | Rooms overcrowded | 5 | 23 |
| Not kept separate | 12 | 50 | Rooms badly ventilated | 24 | 27 |
| Unsuitable | 5 | 4 | Gas stoves and heaters unventilated | 11 | 17 |
| Apparatus defective | 72 | 79 | |||
| Requiring cleansing | 27 | 82 | Other defects (dampness, defective roofs, floors, water supply, dust | 103 | I39 |
| Ventilation defective | 5 | 10 | |||
| Drains, sinks, &c.,. defective | 20 | 37 |
In 16 instances statutory notices had to be served before the work
required was done. In several instances where the rooms were dirty
or verminous the outworker was seriously warned.
Two rooms used as workrooms were unfit to be so used, and the
tenant found other premises
| Smallpox. | Scarlet Fever. | Diphtheria. | Typhoid Fever. | Erysipelas. | . Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clothing trades:— | ||||||
| . | 10 (7) | 12 (8) | . | 1 (1) | 23 (16) | |
| (b) Business in other parts of house | . | 16 (4) | 12 (2) | . | . | 28 (6) |
| (c) Persons from infected houses employed in clothing business elsewhere | . | 17 | 6 | . | 1 | 24 |
| Other home workers' trades | — | — | 1 (1) | — | — | — |
The figures in brackets represent outworkers' premises.
Laundries.—There are 42 Laundries in which washing is done,
besides which there are a number of private houses in which mangling
only is done.