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

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Shoreditch 1892

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Shoreditch, Parish of St. Leonard]

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This latter report was received, and the recommendation adopted, at a meeting
of the Vestry hold on the 7th March, 1893.
LABOUR BUREAU.
The Vestry, at a meeting hold on the 8th November, 181)2, considered a
letter from the Secretary of the London Trades Council advocating the immediate
establishment of a temporary Labour Bureau in the parish, and it was resolved to
refer the letter to the Town Hall Committee to take such steps: as they might deem
necessary for opening a Labour Bureau at the Town Hall for the use of the
unemployed.
The Town Hall Committee thereupon took the matter up, appointing Mr.
Brooks, of No. 33, Crondall Street, as the Superintendent of the Bureau, at a
salary of £1 6s. per week, and the Bureau was started on Wednesday, the 30th
day of November, 1892.
The number of persons who applied for labour, and were placed upon the
register up to 5th May, 1893, was 792 (men) and 42 (women), and employment
was found for 21 (men) and 5 (women).
There were 34 employers of labour who applied for 47 (men) assistants and
23 employers of labour who applied for 102 (women) assistants. A return shewing
these figures in tabular form is attached hereto.
The total cost of carrying on this work from 30th November, 181)2, to 5th
May, 1893, was £36 13s. 2d., made up as follows:—
£ s. d.
Wages of Attendant (A. W. Brooks) 28 1 2
Petty disbursements 0 3 0
Stationery, Books, Envelopes and Printing 8 9 0
£36 13 2
The Bureau was closed on Friday, the 5th day of May, 181)3, and the Vestry
resolved to open it each year from the 1st October to the 31st March.
The Bureau was made as widely known as possible by paragraphs in local
newspapers, and by circulating 500 circular letters amongst the employers of the
district. Application to the railway companies in the district to grant a reduction
in fares to persons on the register travelling for work, was refused.
Employers in this district usually exhibit a notice in their windows for hands
required, and the facilities afforded by this method prevented many unemployed
from availing themselves of the Bureau, especially as many working men got the