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

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London County Council 1913

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]

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Report of the County Medical Officer—General. 69

The number of cleansings at the several stations as shown in the following table has been obtained from this source:—

Metropolitan borough.Adults.Children.Metropolitan borough.Adults.Children.
City of LondonIslington15893
J Battersea1,3231,090Poplar3022,237
Bermondsey352,649St. Marylebone8,0052,076
Bethnal Green19-St. Pancras1,0913,127
Camberwell-*2,714Southwark722,532
Deptford-1,975Stepney1,7804
Greenwich-•173Stoke Newington2415
Hackney382,328Wandsworth2-
Hampstead7178Westminster, City of461,418
Holborn42-Woolwich132519

Number of
cleansings
during the
year 1913,
As mentioned in the annual report for 1910, the principle adopted by the Council with regard to Cleansing
the cleansing of adults from common lodging-houses was that the sanitary authorities should cleanse, adults.
free of charge, any persons sent for that purpose to the cleansing station by the County Council from
common lodging-houses within their respective districts, and that a fee should be paid for cleansing all
persons sent from common lodging-houses not within the district where the cleansing was performed.
Agreements to this effect have been made with the borough councils of Bermondsey, Camberwell,
Hackney, Poplar, St. Marylebone, St. Pancras, and Woolwich.
From the information supplied by the Council s inspectors it appears that during the year 1913,
1,433 men and 40 women were, by reason of their beds having been found verminous, sent to have
their clothing cleansed. Of these numbers 1,297 men and 37 women were known to have been
cleansed, 125 men and 3 women went away and could not be traced.
In nearly all the London boroughs, whether personal cleansing is undertaken or not, considerable
effort is made to deal with verminous homes notified as the result of action by the school authority, and
many of the reports refer to the large amount of work involved in this connection. This additional visiting,
moreover, has had an influence for good far beyond its immediate aim, and many other defects have
been found and remedied as the result of the special inquiries made by the sanitary inspector or health
visitor. In addition, many thousands of articles have been purified and thousands of rooms cleansed, and
this work alone cannot be regarded as unprofitable, affecting as it does the welfare of the whole community.

The details obtainable from the annual reports concerning the cleansing of rooms are shown in the following table:—

Metropolitan borough.Number of rooms or premises cleansed.Metropolitan borough.Number of rooms or premises cleansed.
City of London1Lambeth927 rooms.
BatterseaNot statedLewisham27 rooms.
BermondseyNot statedPaddington280 premises.
Bethnal Green143 premisesPoplar251 rooms.
Camberwell103 premisesSt. Marylebone303 rooms.
Chelsea265 roomsSt. Pancras252 rooms
Deptford125 roomsShoreditch601 rooms.
Finsbury47 premisesSouthwark†2,590 rooms.
r Fulham232 roomsStepney2,420 rooms.
Greenwich94 premisesStoke Newington163 rooms.
Hackney446 premisesWandsworth618 rooms.
HammersmithNot statedWestminster228 premises.
Hampstead67 roomsWoolwich-
Holborn57 premisesTotal for 24 boroughs8,841 rooms
Islington233 premises
Kensington271 premises1,799 premises

Cleansing of
verminous
rooms or
premises.
Vermin Inquiry.
On pages G2 and 63 of the annual report of the medical officer of health for the year 1911, the
question of the seasonal prevalence of three particular kinds of vermin (fleas, lice, and bugs), is discussed
at some length, and diagrams were prepared illustrating the subject. The diagram included in this
report gives the result of five years' work in connection with the observation of the seasonal prevalence
* Including adults. † 1,366 of these cleansed by owners.