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

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St George (Southwark) 1898

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Southwark]

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13
and the Surveyor was instructed to obtain tenders for the work,
The tender of Messrs. Smith & Sons, at the sum of £336, was
subsequently accepted, and the work is now proceeding.
The construction of the Old Kent Road Convenience was completed
about the commencement of February, 1899, when the District
Surveyor certified the structure. Attendants were appointed, and
the Convenience was handed over to the Public Health Committee,
and opened on the 27th February.
The Conveniences in St. George's Circus and Borough Road
were completed and handed over to the Public Health Committee
on the 13th March, 1899.
REMAINS IN ST GEORGES CHURCH CRYPT.
At the meeting of the Public Health Committee on the 25th
April, 1898, the Medical Officer of Health reported that, as desired
by the Rector, he had made an examination of the Crypt of St.
George's Church, and found that there were a large number of
coffins and human remains in the Crypt. He also found the air was
musty and unhealthy, particularly at the end of the Crypt, where he
discovered cracks in the structure, about half-an-inch wide, which not
only rendered the Church dangerous by allowing effluvia to escape
into the building, but possibly rendered the Church a dangerous
structure. He further stated that, in his opinion, as Medical Officer
of Health, the condition of the Crypt was in a state dangerous to
health.
The question came before the Vestry on the 3rd May, when a resolution
was adopted referring the question as to the condition of the
Crypt being dangerous, to the Public Health Committee, with power
to act. In accordance with this resolution the Committee on the
9th May, requested Dr. Pakes, the Assistant Bacteriologist of Guy's
Hospital, to take a sample of the air in the Crypt, to be obtained in
the centre transept at the westerly end of the nave, and also a sample
of the air in the Church on a morning before the congregation had
assembled, and to analyse the samples and report thereon to the
Committee.
On the 19th May, Dr. Hoffman of the Burial Acts Department
of the Home Office attended at St. George's Church to inspect the