Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington]
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that your Vestry were in favour of the closing of the cemetery as
soon as practicable, and considered that, with that object, no
further land should be let or sold for the purpose of burial.
The subject appears to have been brought to the attention
of the Council by the Parks and Open Spaces Committee, who (in
May, 1889), being " of opinion that whenever an open space can
be obtained for the public use, without outlay beyond the
necessary expenditure for maintenance, the Council should secure
it;'' and "therefore recommended that the Government be requested
to close Brompton Cemetery, and to transfer it to the Council for
maintenance as an open space." The subject was referred by the
Council to the Sanitary and Special Purposes Committee for consideration
and report. The Committee, having "inquired very
fully and carefully into the matter," reported, in July, that " o
sufficient case to require the closing of the cemetery can at
present be established;" a conclusion with which I am bound
to agree, and had previously myself arrived at, much as I
should wish, upon abstract grounds, to see the cemetery closed.
The report of the Committee was approved by the Council.
The Chairman of the Committee (Captain James), informed
your Vestry, in May last, that the Home Secretary, whom the
Committee had received permission to approach on the subject,
had decided that no new graves should be opened within thirty
feet of the boundary walls, nor interments take place in the
public vaults within this zone. It appears that more than
155,000 interments have taken place since 1840, and that about
4000 take place annually, of which 70 per cent. are in the
common ground. It is alleged, nevertheless, that there is still
available space for common interments for two or three years,
and in private ground for an indefinite period.
REGULATIONS FOR HOUSES LET IN
LODGINGS.
The Sanitary Act, 1866 (sec. 35), enables the "Nuisance
Authority" (the Vestry), with the cousent of a Secretary of
State, to make Regulation "for houses, or parts of houses,