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21
of the yard to the other. It was one of the worst eases of the kind
that I had witnessed. Notices were served.
On the 21st May, I went to Nos. 4 and 5 on the east side of
Clarence Street. The privies were full, and very near the dwellings,
the yards being small; there was neither drainage, ashpit, nor
water supply; in a word, the houses were wanting (as half the
houses in Rotherhithe are) in every appliance necessary for cleanliness,
comfort, decency and health. Notices were served.
On the 22nd May I went, on the invitation of the Inspector, Mr.
Sanders, to a dilapidated house, No. 2, Victoria Place, Deptford
Lower Road. Here again, there was neither drainage, ashpit, or
water supply, the cesspool was disgustingly full, and the whole
place miserably out of repair. A notice was served.
At No. 15, Lavender Lane, to which my attention had been
directed on 23rd May, I found the privy emitting foul effluvia, and
without pan or water. A notice has been served.
Mortality of the Month.
The absolute number of deaths from all causes registered in
Rotherhithe during the month just elapsed, was forty-nine,—the
largest yet registered for the same period of time since I have
addressed monthly Reports to this Vestry.
Four deaths however, must be deducted from the above number
of forty-nine. One, of a male child, aged two years, from burns,
occasioned by his clothes accidentally taking fire—one, of a man
not belonging to this parish, who committed suicide by cutting his
throat in Rotherhithe—and two, of persons found in the Thames,
leaving forty-five deaths from disease. Of these five were above
the age of 70: the oldest a male, aged 89: and twentythree,
or more than half, were children under 5 years of age,
another proof of the fact advanced in my last Report, that in large
cities one half of the individuals born die before the completion of
the fifth year. Two females have died in childbed, and one, aged
42, suddenly, from a fit of apoplexy. The hooping cough still
continues its ravages, six deaths from it having been registered;
one from typhoid fever, one from scarlatina, and one from small
pox. There has been no death from measles, although the disease
is at present very prevalent in the neighbourhood, but all the cases
have hitherto assumed a mild form.
Yours respectfully,
June, 1856. WILLIAM MURDOCH.