London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Islington 1864

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Islington, Parish of St Mary]

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54
REPORT
on the
SANITARY CONDITION OF ST. MARY, ISLINGTON,
FOR SEPTEMBER, 1864.
No. XC.
The registered mortality for the five weeks ending October 1st
amounts to 320, which, although short of that in September last year,
is still twenty-one above the corrected mean of eight years. The excess
appears principally due to an unusual number of deaths from consumption
and diseases of the chest. Of the nine deaths from fever registered,
four are stated to have been caused by " typhus." Scarlet fever
appears again to be on the increase, the deaths having risen from six
in four weeks to fifteen in five weeks. The weekly mortality from it was
5, 4, 9, 3, 8. Of the three deaths from small-pox, one was of an
unvaccinated child in Adelaide Square. This is the fourth death from
small-pox in Adelaide Square during the last few months.
I have before me the returns made by the Inspector of Bakehouses,
who since his appointment has visited 192 bakehouses. He has furnished
the particulars relating to each upon a form which I drew up for his
direction. Tt may be as well that I should at once supply, for the
information of the Veslry, an analysis which I have made of Mr. Godbold's
returns.
1. Of the 192 Bakehouses, seventy-two or more than a third are stated
to be dirty—some very dirty. In many more, not thus returned
as generally unclean, the walls and ceilings are described as dirty
or dilapidated. In one, besides an accumulation of rubbish, a
horse was kept in the bakehouse.
2. In fifty-one the paving or flooring was broken or in bad condition.
In one a defective drain ran beneath the bakehouse at the spot
where the man stood to work at the trough, and the soil rose
between the stones as they were stepped upon. In three the floor
was undermined by rats—a pretty sure indication of foul effluvia.
In one the walls were damp from leakage from a neighbouring drain.
3. Seven were without any means of ventilation whatever. In the
rest the ventilation varied from excellent to very imperfect.
4. In three there was no proper sulphur flue.
5. In three a panned privy without proper water supply, or very
dirty, was situated on the same level with the bakehouse, and near
enough to introduce foul effluvia into it. In three other instances
the privy was within the bakehouse itself; in one of these there was
neither pan nor trap, the privy consisting of a bar of wood over an
opening in the drain.
0. In two the storeroom was dirty; in one of these there was also
a stench from a drain.