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20 Parish of St. George the Martyr, Southwark.
rate—to the desire for stimulation of energies that have been exhausted by overwork,
hunger, exposure to insanitary conditions, and other evils incidental to a poor
environment. The whole question strikes deep into the social life of the community,
and deserves careful attention in its many aspects by the administrators of sanitary
laws, whether local or central.
Complaint of Nuisance arising from Burial Vaults
beneath the Parish Church.
On the 17th March, 1898, a complaint was made to me by the Rector of the
Parish Church, the Rev. W. J. Sommerville, as to an alleged nuisauce arisiug from
bodies buried in the crypt. He stated that some of his parishioners had complained
of bad smells entering the Church, and asked me to inspect the building. On the
24th March I visited the Church, and as a result of that visit I reported the matter to
the Public Health Committee on the 28th. On April 25th I made an inspection of
the crypt, with Mr. Ralph, late District Inspector. On the evening of the 25th I
reported to the Public Health Committee that I had fouud in the crypt upwards of
one thousand coffins, that the air of the crypt was musty, that there were cracks in
masonry of roof and walls, and that in my opinion the state of affairs was such as to
be likely to be a danger to health. On May 3rd, in answer to a question addressed
to me in the Vestry, I stated my general conclusion as to the insanitary state of the
crypt. I also stated that " the first and only inspection of the crypt made by me was
on the 25th April, 1898, on the complaint of Mr. Sommerville, and that no other
official complaint of a nuisance or danger to health from the crypt had ever been
made to me." On May 9th the matter having been referred back to the Health
Committee, with power to act, at the request of the Chairman for a report, I referred
to my previous verbal report on the 25th April, and to the written record in my
official diary. I recommended the Committee to communicate with the Home Office,
which alone had powers to deal with nuisances arising from burials. A few days
later I received a communication from Dr. Hoffman asking me to accompany him on
a Home Office inspection of the crypt, to take place on the 19th May. Together with
the Chairman of the Health Committee, the Rector, the Churchwardens, and Mr.
Hilton, I was present at the official inspection on the date mentioned. So far as I
was concerned as Medical Officer of Health, that ended the matter for the official
year under report, namely, 1898. Up to the 31st December, no steps had been taken,
to abate the state of affairs complained of by Mr. Sommerville to your Sanitary
Authority, and pronounced a danger to health by the Home Office.
Hortuary and Coroner's Court.
204 bodies were removed to the Parish Mortuary during the year 1898, as against I
179 in 1897 and 212 in 1896.
This number includes bodies brought from the St. George's Workhouse.
Inquests were held in 122 cases with 96 post mortem examinations.
During 1898, 29 young children were suffocated whilst lying in bed with their
parents, as against 13 in 1897. This lamentable loss of life might have been prevented
had these unfortunate children slept in cots.
The Factory and Workshop Act, 1891.
369 Workshops have been registered by your Authority since January 1892, when
the Act first came into operation. Of this number 31 have been added during the
past year.