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
London County Council 1898
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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Dr. Young's Report.
There are in the county of London 43 districts—including the City of London, but excluding
districts mentioned in Schedule C. of Metropolis Local Management Act—which are under the
jurisdiction of separate sanitary authorities, but three of these are each divided into sub-districts
which have local committees and have more or less separate and distinct arrangements in regard
to sanitary administration.
The districts to which this refers are—
| Wandsworth | Wandsworth. |
| Clapham. | |
| Putney. | |
| Streatham and Tooting. | |
| Greenwich | Greenwich. |
| Deptford. | |
| Lee | Charlton. |
| Lee and Kidbrooke. | |
| Eltham. |
comprising a total of nine sub-districts. A statement as to the provision made for disinfection at the
present time within the county can best be made, therefore, in reference to 49 districts or
sub-districts.
General statement as to the methods of disinfection adopted by sanitary authorities in the
County of London.
The subject of disinfection may be divided into—
(a) The means provided for the disinfection of articles of clothing and bedding.
(b) The method of disinfection of rooms.
(A.) The disinfection of articles. (1) Steam disinfecting apparatus have been provided by sanitary authorities in the case of 32 districts and sub-districts. They are the following—
| Hammersmith. | Strand. | Newington. |
| Chelsea. | Clerkenwell. | Bermondsey. |
| St. George, Hanover-square. | St. Luke. | Lambeth. |
| Westminster. | City of London. | Camberwell. |
| St. James. | Shoreditch. | Lewisliam. |
| Marylebone. | Bethnal-green. | Woolwich. |
| Pancras. | Whitechapel. | * Plumstead. |
| Hampstead. | Limehouse. | Wandsworth (sub-district). |
| Islington. | * Mile-end Old-town. | Greenwich (sub-district). |
| Hackney. | Poplar. | Deptford (sub-district). |
| St. Giles. | St. George the Martyr. |
In Mile-end Old-town the apparatus is a hot-air apparatus to which steam has been applied; it
is unsatisfactory and is to be replaced by a modern apparatus. In Plumstead a new apparatus is also
about to be provided.
(2) The disinfection of articles by steam is carried out by contract in the case of 15 districts or sub-districts as follows—
| Stoke Newington | by contract with Islington. |
| Holborn | ,, Clerkenwell. |
| Lee and Kidbrooke (sub-district) | „ Plumstead. |
| Eltham (sub-district) | ,, ,, |
| St. George-in-the-East | by contract with the London Hospital. |
| St. Olave | „ Guy's Hospital. |
| (c) Nine by contract with private firms, namely— | |
| Paddington | Battersea. |
| Kensington | Clapham (sub-district). |
| Fulham | Putney (sub-district). |
| St. Martin-in-the-Fields | Streatham and Tooting (sub-district). |
| Rotherhithe. | |
Of these, Paddington, Fulham, Battersea and Rotherhithe are providing, or have decided to
provide their own steam disinfecting apparatus, and as regards the sub-districts—Clapham, Putney,
Streatham and Tooting, which form part of Wandsworth, arrangements, it is anticipated will he made
for disinfection of articles at the disinfecting station just provided by the Board of W orks for the
district, at their wharf situated within the Wandsworth sub-district.
At the present time, in the case of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Battersea and Rotherhithe, it is not
the custom to send away articles of clothing and bedding to be disinfected by heat in all cases of
notifiable infectious disease, reliance in such instances being placed upon the disinfection obtained by
leaving the articles fully exposed in the room during the fumigation of the latter.