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
Marylebone 1920
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St. Marylebone, Metropolitan Borough]
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suitable separate accommodation for women in places where both sexes were or
were about to be employed. Though there may be here and there a small lock-up
shop in which it is necessary for the individuals engaged on the premises to make use
of a convenience in some other part of the building, or more rarely in an adjoining
building, there are no premises in the Borough totally without sanitary conveniences
of this type. The only class of closet is, of course, the water closet.
Public Sanitary Conveniences.—The usual supervision was exercised over the
public conveniences during the year, Inspector Hill, the outdoor superintendent,
visiting those provided for the males: the women inspectors, especially Miss Baker,
supervising those provided for females.
Reports and comparative statements as to receipts for use of the underground
conveniences were regularly submitted to and considered by the Public Health
Committee.
The following is a statement showing the total receipts at each of the conveniences for the year ended March, 1921, and theamountof increase or decrease as compared with the previous year.
| 1921. | 1920. | Increase. | Decrease. | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | |
| Oxford Circus —Men's Department | 1,233 | 19 | 11 | 1,355 | 9 | 10 | — | 101 | 9 | 11 | ||
| * ,, Women's ,, | 1,234 | 15 | 4 | 1,252 | 18 | 3 | — | 18 | 2 | 11 | ||
| Gt. Portland Street—Men's ,, | 336 | 2 | 4 | 335 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 12 | 10 | — | ||
| * ,, Women's ,, | 323 | 14 | 5 | 290 | 17 | 0 | 32 | 17 | 5 | — | ||
| Marylebone Road —Men's ,, | 286 | 15 | 3 | 299 | 3 | 11 | — | 12 | 8 | 8 | ||
| * ,, Women's ,, | 291 | 14 | 1 | 268 | 6 | 5 | 26 | 7 | 8 | — | ||
| Foley Street—-Men only | 188 | 13 | 4 | 191 | 13 | 8 | — | 3 | 0 | 4 | ||
| St. John's Wood Road—Men only | 128 | 4 | 9 | 134 | 2 | 7 | — | 5 | 17 | 10 | ||
| Barrett Street—Men only | 211 | 16 | 4 | 246 | 6 | 7 | - | 4 | 10 | 3 | ||
*One free urinette provided.
Removal and Disposal of House Refuse.
Throughout the year the arrangements in connection with scavenging remained
in the hands of the Highways Committee and under the control of the Highways
Engineer, Mr. James Gair, who has had charge of this work ever since the
decision was reached in 1917 to discontinue the carrying out by contract of this most
important public health duty.
The arrangements which are fully described in the following report, for which
I am indebted to Mr. Gair, the Highways Engineer, have worked very smoothly
from the beginning, and have shown marked improvement with increasing experience.
The work was taken over from the Contractors on the 1st April, 1917, and the
tonnage of refuse collected during the three years ending 31st March, 1920, has been
as follows :—
Year 1917-1918 26,886 tons
„ 1918-1919 27,735 „
,, "1919-1920 35,602 ,,
The Highways Committee, under the Chairmanship of Mr. J. T. Watson,
M.B.E., have always had in view the desirability of utilising all waste materials and
disposing of the refuse in the most sanitary and economical manner. In order to
obtain information as to the methods adopted by other Authorities, visits were paid
by the Chairman and the Highways Engineer to Birmingham, Sheffield, Edinburgh,
Glasgow and Southwark. Although the information obtained was extremely
valuable and instructive, the nature of the house refuse to be dealt with combined
with the local conditions, made it evident that each locality had to devise methods
to suit its particular requirements, consequently a systematic series of experiments
were carried out with a view to ascertaining the nature and composition of the refuse
to be dealt with.