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

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Clerkenwell 1858

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Clerkenwell, St James & St John]

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28
ment in an impure air, or in over-heated and ill-ventilated rooms, and
insufficient out-of-door exercise. Among young women, also, many
who formerly would have been brought up in service, enjoying good
food, regular hours, and active exercise, are now employed in artificial
flower making, fancy work, &e., under which circumstances they are
ill-paid, ill-fed, over-confined, and finally become consumptive. Of the
294 deaths from diseases of the pulmonary organs, many must also be
attributed to the low vitality produced by living in over-crowded or illventilated
apartments.
142 deaths occurred in the "Workhouse: this number is rather less
than that applying to the Metropolis in general, where, as the Registrar-General
shows, 1 in every 11 deaths occurs in the Workhouse.
Water Supply.— The Water-supply needs no special comment in
regard to quality , but the old evils remain in respect to the quantity,
viz: the one hour tap system, and the underground cisterns. The
inhabitants of some of the courts are without water from Saturday evening
until mid-day on the Monday following ! This is a terrible state of
things.
The water-supply is very deficient on the whole, as is the accommodation
for washing and drying linen; this can never be thoroughly
remedied until Baths and Wash-houses are established. If these could
be supplied, the District would be benefited beyond measure; and there
could be no excuse for the existence of the filthy state in which the
linen of the poor is so often seen. •
Cow Houses.—These still remain great and increasing nuisances.
As the population is increasing, more cows and a greater amount of
nuisance connected with their being kept in the district must necessarily
be supplied. Great advantage would result from insisting upon
the dung being removed between the hours of 10—12 at night and 6
in the morning.
Slaughter Houses.—The condition of the Slaughter-houses has been
on the whole good; 'the improvements required consisting simply in
lime-whiting, repairing broken paving, and replacing broken or displaced
traps. Yet it must be stated that a few of them are little more
than make-shifts.
Nuisances Removed, &c.—The works carried out in the removal of
nuisances, and the improvement of the drainage of the district have
been very considerable : 117 houses have been drained; 95 new drains
laid; 171 cesspools destroyed, the privies being panned and trapped;
118 sewers cleansed, repaired, and re-paved; 332 gullies cleansed,
repaired and trapped; 4 new gullies made; 4 air-shafts built; and
1124 feet of new sewers made, in King-street, Hallett's Place, Passing
Alley, Wynyatt-street, Berkeley Court and St.. John's Lane.