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The Dials. 18. The most important portion of the sub-district of St. Giles
South was built upon an erroneous plan—that of Dials, characterized by seven
or eight lines of streets, running at a very acute angle, from a common or Dial
centre. This ground plan, which looks pretty upon paper, is perplexing to
a stranger, who finds it difficult to discover his whereabout. Sanitarily, it
is exceedingly bad, for as all the lines of such streets converge to a point,
there are always, at the end of the wedge, from five to ten houses which
have no back yards; and, as a necessity, the water-closets, dust-bins, &c..
must be placed in the cellars. The staircases are dark and badly ventilated.
Most of the houses contain about eight rooms, but some are smaller, and
they are generally let out in tenements, one family occupying a single room.
The streets are, for the greater part, narrow, and are intersected by narrower
alleys.
19. Great Wild Street. The streets and courts about Great "Wild Street,
particularly those on the west side, are not only built very close together, with
small yards, but are usually approached by a narrow passage under a house at
either end. On the east side they are not much better. Dr. Buchanan
computed that there were upwards of seventy streets, courts, and alleys, in
the District, that either had no thoroughfare, or were approached under a
covered way. Proper ventilation under such circumstances is impossible.
Nothing but a clean sweep of all the property, and rebuilding on a better
plan, will ever make this part of St Giles a healthy quarter
The Mews in Bloomsbury. 20. The houses in Bloomsbury, and in that
portion of St. Giles north of New Oxford Street, are generally of a superior
class. They are provided with Mews in the rear, but the stables are, as a rule,
no longer held by the occupiers of the houses in front, but are let to livery
stable keepers and cab owners. They are not therefore, in many instances,
kept in that clean and wholesome state which is necessary to maintain the
health of the people living over them, and many of them are in bad repair.
This is a source of sickness, and is one principal cause of the steadily increasing
death-rate of Bloomsbury. Inspector Dixon has given much attention
to these Mews during the past year, and has caused repairs and sanitary
improvements to be carried out in a large number.
21. Besides the houses inhabited by independent persons, tradesmen,
and respectable artizans, there are many of a lower class, occupied by
costermongers, match, flower and fruit sellers, who make St. Giles their
head quarters for a large section of London. Irish labourers too abound
among us, and probably form half of the population of St. Giles South.
Common Lodging Houses. 22. Below these again are the tramps, wifedeserters,
beggars, pick-pockets, and women of bad repute, who occupy the
common lodging houses in this quarter. There are more than 2000 of these
persons, the large majority of whom are single, or at least live as celibates ;
they are, nevertheless, prolific.
23. A considerable amount of the sickness and mortality in St. Giles,
and a large proportion of the cost for supporting its pauperism, are caused
by the occupants of these houses. These lodging-houses are, moreover, the
seething hotbeds of depravity and crime, and, being adjacent to the
habitations of the lowest class of our labouring poor, the indecent and
immoral habits of the population, infect whole streets, and cast a gloomy
shadow of squalor and vice over the entire locality. It would be a mercy to the
labouring poor to scatter these people from their haunts. Only a limited
number of houses harbouring them should be allowed in each district. By
massing these outcasts together, as they are in St. Giles, they are effectually
cut off from all humanizing influences, and their moral corruption only
becomes more aggravated.
24. The regulations instituted by the Police authorities for the management
of these houses are, in most respects, satisfactory, and they are carried
out with considerable stringency; but the amount of cubic space allotted to
person is much too small.