View report page

12
INTRODUCTION.
The earliest account of the health and sanitary condition
of Woolwich is contained in the report to the General Board
of Health on an Enquiry into the sewerage, drainage, water
supply, and sanitary condition of the inhabitants of the Parish
of Woolwich, by Robert Rawlinson, Esq., Superintending
Inspector, and printed by Messrs. Eyre & Spottiswoode in
1851. A copy of this report has come into my hands, and
gives a very interesting account of the condition of Woolwich
at that date.
The General Board of Health was appointed under the
Public Health Act of 1848, which gave power to establish
local boards of health. In consequence of a petition signed
by 441 inhabitants rated to the relief of the poor headed by
William Greenlaw, Rector, Mr. Rawlinson was appointed to
hold a Preliminary Enquiry. The following, among others,
attended and gave evidence at the Enquiry:—
William Greenlaw (Rector),
James Conolly (Chaplain),
Colonel W. B. Dundas, E.A.,
Captain J. Washington, R.N.,
Francis Bossey, M.D.,
Felix W. Richardson,
John Butler,
Peter Bossey,
William Stuart,
and Messrs. Rolls, Bland, Bayly, Ruegg, Pidcock,
Sergeant, Samuel Watts, Robert Jolly, and Louis
Chasteauneuf.
Surgeons.