houses by cartage, or otherwise than by sewerage 54
Instances of defective construction of sewers 55
Evidence on the action of improved modes of sewerage 55
Effects of different descriptions of streets upon the public
health 59
Proposed mode of cleansing streets by sweeping the refuse
into the sewers 60
Similar mode proposed of cleansing Paris 61
_Supplies of water._ 63
Necessity of improved supplies of water for house and street
cleansing 63
Instances of the want of water in the houses, and of the
effect on the personal and domestic habits of the lower
classes of the population in towns 63
In Manchester, 64; in Truro union, 65; in Audley district of
Newcastle-under-Lyme union, 65; in Dunmow union, 65; in
Bishops Stortford union, 65; in Lexden and Winstree union,
65; in Wootton, Bedford, 66; in Edinburgh, 66; in Glasgow,
66; in Aberdeen, 67; in Stirling, 67; in Dundee, 67; in
Greenock, 67; in Ayr, 67; in Arbroath, 67; in Renfrew, 68;
in Dunfermline, 68; in Tain, 68; in Tranent 68
Inapplicability of the supplies of water to be obtained by
fetching from the public wells 69
The supplies of water in London by machinery and pipes, and
in Paris by cartage and hand carriage, compared 70
Cost of laying on water in labourers’ tenements and the
economy of supply in such a mode 71
Supplies of water by private companies, not applicable to
rural districts of small population 72
Complaints against the modes of supplies of water by private
companies 72
Private companies do not ensure the best practicable
supplies to the public 73
Instance of supplies of water obtained by the public without
private companies 74
Necessity of general provisions of supplies of water 77
Unwholesome effects of bad water 77
_Sanitary effect of land drainage._ 80
General land drainage, effects of, on the health of the
population, instances of in—
The Isle of Ely, 80; the Newhaven union, 81; the Ongar
union, 81; the Gravesend and Milton union, 81; the Eastry
union, 81 and 82; the Dunmow union, 82; the Epping union 82
Instances of—
In Scotland 83
Instances of the effect of land drainage upon the health of
cattle 83
Instance of the effects of land floods and deficient land
drainage in—
The Langport union, 85; the Chesterfield union, 87; the Dore
union, 87; the Bicester union, 88; the Leighton Buzzard
union, 88; the Foleshill union, 89; the Malton union, 89;
Lochmaben, Scotland 90
Foreign illustrations of the effect of drainage upon the
health of the population 90
Interests opposed to the cleansing of Paris 93
Class similar to the Chiffoniers found in English towns 94
Their personal habits 95
Collateral benefit of more effectual cleansing of towns in
diminishing degrading employments 96
III. CIRCUMSTANCES CHIEFLY IN THE INTERNAL ECONOMY AND BAD
VENTILATION OF PLACES OF WORK; WORKMEN’S LODGING-HOUSES,
DWELLINGS, AND THE DOMESTIC HABITS AFFECTING THE HEALTH OF
THE LABOURING CLASSES. 98
Various effects of overcrowding places of work, as shown in
the case of one class of workmen 98
Comparative ease and economy of measures of prevention
rather than of relief 104
Sanitary effects of ventilation on workpeople at Glasgow 107
Effects of defective ventilation on the health of milliners
and dressmakers in the metropolis 107
Instances of the effects of defective ventilation of
sleeping rooms of the working classes 108
Effects of the defective economy of lodging-houses and
places of repose exemplified in the duration of life of
one class of workmen 112
Instances of errors in respect to the sanitary effects of
particular occupations 113
Injurious effects of deficient ventilation in schools 119
_Bad ventilation and overcrowding private houses._ 120
Great apparent increase in the proportionate number of
houses according to the last census attributable to a
different mode of making the return 120
Instances of great overcrowding in cottages in—
Greenock, 121; Tranent, 121; Sleaford union 122
_The want of separate apartments and overcrowding of private
dwellings._ 122
Effects of the overcrowding of private dwellings on the
morals of the population, instances of, in—
The Ampthill union, 122; the Leighton Buzzard union, 123;
the Bicester union, 123; the Romsey union, 123; among the
border peasantry, 124; in Manchester, Liverpool,
Ashton-under-Lyne, and Hull, 124; in Leeds, 126; in
Nottingham, 126; in Clitheroe 126
Instances of the injurious influences of bad tenements upon
the personal condition and moral habits of the inmates 128
Effects of noxious agencies in preventing frugality and
promoting intemperance 129
In preventing the influence of education 132
Force of habits of intemperance in the use of spirituous
liquors against all habits of decency, or frugality, or
morality 133
Misconceptions as to casualties occurring among the indigent
or profligate 134
Intemperance the cause of fever 136
_Domestic mismanagement a predisposing cause of disease._ 137
Mismanagement of earnings obstructive to the domestic
improvement of the sanitary condition of the labouring
classes.
Instances of in—
Derby, 137; Birmingham, 138; Manchester, 139; Preston union,
140; Ayr, 141; Tranent, 141; Dundee 142
Attacks of fever most frequent on workmen in full employment
and ordinary health 145, 147
Irrelevancy of controversy on the generation of fever, in
respect to practical means of prevention 148
Concurrence of medical opinions as to the most efficient
means of preventing fever 150
IV. COMPARATIVE CHANCES OF LIFE IN DIFFERENT CLASSES OF THE
COMMUNITY. 153
Instances of the comparative chances of life amongst the
gentry, tradesmen, and working men—
In Truro, 154; in Derby, 155; in Manchester, 157; in
Rutland, 157; in the Bolton union, 158; in Bethnal Green,
159; in Leeds Borough, 159; in Liverpool, 159; in the
Whitechapel union, 160; in the Strand union, 160; in the
Kensington union, 161; in Wiltshire, 161; in the Kendal
union 161
Tabular views of the ages at which deaths have occurred in
different classes of society 162
Comparative mortality of differently circumstanced districts
of the metropolis 164
Comparative prevalence of fever in different districts of
Leith 167
High mortality not essential to towns 167
Comparative mortality in three classes of the community at
Bath 168
Corroborative experience from Paris as to the influence of
local circumstances on mortality 170
Improvements in the health of large towns chiefly confined
to improved districts 171
Instance of progressive improvement in the social condition
of the population concurrently with its increase in
numbers 175
Prevalence of disease no evidence of the pressure of
population on food 177
Variations of the proportion of deaths and births in
different districts of the same town 178
Proportion of births to the population greatest where there
is the greatest mortality 179
Proof that pestilence or excessive mortality does not
diminish population 182
Numbers merely not the test of strength or prosperity of a
community 185
Deterioration of the strength of the population by disease
without diminishing its numbers 185
Increase of food or production concurrently with the
increase of population 188
V. PECUNIARY BURDENS CREATED BY THE NEGLECT OF SANITARY
MEASURES:— 188
Cost of remedies for sickness and of mortality which is
preventible 188
Average ages of death of the heads of families of widows and
orphans chargeable to the Manchester, Whitechapel, Bethnal
Green, Strand, Oakham and Uppingham, Alston with
Garrigill, and Bath unions 190
Table of the number of widows and dependent orphans
chargeable in eight unions 191
Table of the chief cause of death producing widowhood and
orphanage in eight unions 192
Detailed instances of the causes of widowhood and orphanage
in Alston with Garrigill 193
Examples of the sanitary effects of superior care in the
residences and the places of work of labourers—in the
Reeth union, North York, 196; in Gwennap, Illogan, and
Camborne, Cornwall, 198; in Great Bradford and Horton,
West York 199
Comparison of a young population under favourable and a
mature population under unfavourable circumstances 200
Effects of noxious physical agencies on the moral and
intellectual condition of the working classes 202
Jurisprudential measures for the prevention of deaths from
accidents 203
Cost of disease as compared with cost of prevention,
instances of in Glasgow and Dundee 206
VI. EVIDENCE OF THE EFFECTS OF PREVENTIVE MEASURES IN RAISING
THE STANDARD OF HEALTH AND THE CHANCES OF LIFE:— 211
Former health of gaols as compared with the present state 211
Effects of sanitary measures of prevention on the health of
prisoners 214
Comparison of the experience of sickness amongst different
classes of people 216
Amount of sickness experienced by the labouring classes 217
Defects of Insurance tables 218
Effects of sanitary measures in the prevention of disease in
the army and navy 219
_Cost to tenants and owners of the public measures for
drainage, cleansing, and the supplies of water, as
compared with the cost of sickness_:— 222
Cost of measures of prevention as compared with the cost of
sickness and mortality 222
Means of payment for improved accommodation 227
Impolicy of exemptions of tenements from proper charges 229
Injurious effects of exemptions of labourers’ tenements 230
Inability of workmen to improve their own condition 231
Necessity of extrinsic aid for the improvement of the
condition of the working classes 232
_Employers’ influence on the health of workpeople, by means
of improved habitations_:— 233
Advantages to labourers of holding tenements in connexion
with their employments 233
Instance of a superior moral and sanitary condition enjoyed
by workers in a cotton factory 236
Elevation of a manufacturing population by improvements in
the condition of their dwellings 238
Most advantageous construction of manufactories for the
health of the workpeople 240
_The employers’ influence on the health of workpeople_:— 245
By modes of payment which do not lead to temptations to
intemperance 245
By the promotion of personal cleanliness 253
By the ventilation of the places of work and the prevention
of noxious fumes, dust, &c. 256
By promoting respectability in dress 261
Employers’ or owners’ influence in the improvement of
habitations and sanitary arrangements for the protection
of the labouring classes in the rural districts 261
Instances of, in the Bedford Union, 262; Stafford Union,
263, in Norfolk and Suffolk, 264; at Harlaxton,
Lincolnshire, 266; at the Earl of Rosebery’s estate,
Scotland, 266; at Closeburn, Dumfries, 266; Turton and
Bollington, Lancashire, 267; Birmingham 267
Instances of the influence of the materials used in building
upon the health of the inmates in Cheshire, Lancashire,
Buckingham and Berkshire 267
Instances of efficient improvements in the detail of
labourers’ dwellings in Scotland 270
Improvements proposed for the construction of the dwellings
of the lower classes in towns 272
_Effects of public walks and gardens on the health and
morals of the lower classes of the population_ 275
VII. RECOGNISED PRINCIPLES OF LEGISLATION AND STATE OF THE
EXISTING LAW FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH:— 279
Necessity of legislative interference for the protection of
the health of the population 279
Spread of old evils in unprotected new districts by
inefficient legislation 280
Dangers of increased charges for inefficient sanitary
measures shifting without improving the population 282
Expulsion of labourers from old tenements without providing
appropriate new ones, not invariably beneficial 286
Advantages in the regulation of the sites of dwellings 287
_General state of the law for the protection of the public
health_:— 288
Medical police in Germany 288
Existing laws for the protection of the public health in
England 289
Early state of the law for the protection of the public
health 291
_State of the special authorities for reclaiming the
execution of the laws for the protection of the public
health_:— 296
General desuetude of the laws for the protection of the
public health 296
State of the administration of the laws for the protection
of the public health, by court leets and local trusts 299
_State of the local executive authorities for the erection
and maintenance of drains and other works for the
protection of the public health_:— 302
State of the obstructions to land drainage and works of
private profit redounding to the public health 302
Injuries to private property as well as to the public
health, occasioned by defective administration 305
Continuance of the causes of disease in the face of
representations of their effects on the population 307
Areas of jurisdiction for drainage inconsistent with
efficient operations 309
Prevalent misconceptions as to the objects and state of
management of existing sewerage 311
Objections made to the existing local administration of the
sewers’ rate 315
Securities requisite to obviate opposition to new
expenditure for sewerage 316
Necessity of the subordinate drainage of private tenements
being comprehended as part of one system 319
Disturbing local interests opposed to efficient management
of expenditure in new districts 322
Obstacles arising from defective local arrangements for
efficient expenditure in local public works 323
Inconveniences of legislation on details, and the want of
scientific and trustworthy direction 328
High rates of charges, by fees, for superintendence of
imperfect structural arrangements 329
Extent of waste in expenditure on local public works, and on
separate collections 333
Public facilities for private land drainage afforded by
consolidation 337
Grounds of unpopularity and distrust of new local
expenditure 339
_Boards of Health or public officers for the prevention of
disease_:— 340
Inefficiency of Boards of Health, as ordinarily constituted 340
Failure of Boards of Health in Ireland 342
Importance of the functions of medical officers in connexion
with the executive authority 343
Means and economy of skilled services for the prevention of
diseases 348
Administrative measures for the prevention of disease
amongst the labouring classes 349
Administrative means for promoting the extension of medical
science 352
VIII. COMMON LODGING-HOUSES THE MEANS OF PROPAGATING DISEASE AND
VICE:— 356
State of the common lodging-houses in the Barnet union, 357;
in Birmingham, 357; in Brighton, 358; in Manchester, 358;
in the Stockport union, 360; in the Macclesfield union,
360; in Durham, 361; in the Teesdale union, 361; in the
Tynemouth union, 361; in Newcastle-on-Tyne, 362; in
Tranent, Haddingtonshire, 362; in Tain, Ross-shire, 362;
in the borough of Warwick, 363; in Chelmsford 364
Grounds for subjecting common lodging-houses to the
responsibilities of public-houses and beer-shops 364
Practical illustration of the regulations of common
lodging-houses 366
IX. RECAPITULATION OF CONCLUSIONS:— 368
Recapitulation of the chief conclusions deduced on the
information obtained in the course of the inquiry 369
Conclusions as to the available means of prevention 370
Grounds for uniformity of legislation 372
APPENDIX.
1. Evidence of Mr. John Roe, civil engineer, on the practical
improvement in sewerage and drainage tried in the Holborn
and Finsbury divisions of the metropolis 373
2. Evidence of Mr. John Darke, contractor for cleansing, as to
the obstacles to cleansing, and the conversion of the
refuse of the metropolis to productive uses 379
3. Evidence of Mr. John Treble, contractor for cleansing, as to
the obstacles to cleansing, and the conversion of the
refuse of the metropolis to productive uses 380
4. Extract from the report of Fourcroy and others, showing the
calculation of the extent of pollution of the Seine from
the discharge of the refuse of the streets of Paris 381
5. Communication from Captain Vetch, of the Royal Engineers, on
the structural arrangements of new buildings, and
protection of the public health 382
6. Evidence of Mr. George Gutch, district surveyor, on shifting
and building inferior tenements in the suburbs, to avoid
the provisions of the Metropolis building Act 394
7. Estimate by Mr. Howell, of the cost of structural
arrangements of sewerage, drainage, water-tank, and means
of house cleansing for labourers’ tenements in the
metropolis 394
8. Description of specification of Mr. Loudon’s agriculturists’
model cottage 395
9. Statement of the requisites of cottage architecture, by Mr.
Loudon 396
10. Specification of the cost of erection, weekly rents,
interest on the capital invested, and the numbers of the
tenements and cottages occupied by the poor and labourers;
taken from returns made by the relieving officers of their
respective districts in 24 unions in the counties of
Chester, Stafford, Derby, and Lancaster 400
11. Tables of the expense of building cottages and repairs, in
England and Scotland 401
12. Examination of the Rev. Thomas Whateley, Cookham, Berks, on
cottage allotments and the keeping of pigs by cottagers 403
13. Arrangement of public walks in towns: plan of the arboretum
at Derby, laid out by Mr. Loudon 405
14. Boards of Health: report on the labours of the “Conseil de
Salubrité,” of Paris, from 1829 to 1839, by M. Trebuchet 409
16. Qualifications of officers of public health: statement by M.
Duchâtelet 423
17. Instance by MM. Duchâtelet and D’Arcet, of the erroneous
medical inferences as to the insalubrity of particular
trades 424
18. On the habitations of the lower orders of Paris 426
19. On the habitations and lodgings of the lower orders in Paris 428
20. Extract from the report of the commission appointed by the
Central Board of Public Health, to ascertain the condition
of the dwellings of the working classes in Brussels, and
to suggest means for their improvement 429
21. Principles of sanitary police in Germany: extracts from
Professor Mohl 431
22. A report on the statements of Dr. Mauthner, regarding the
sanitary condition of the operatives in the new cotton
manufactures, Vienna, given at the monthly meeting on the
2nd of November, 1841. By Herr L. M. Von Pacher 432
23. Typhus fever, the vast amount of, produced amongst the poor
of Liverpool, from want of ventilation and cleanliness:
extract from Dr. Currie’s medical reports 441
24. Extract from Dr. Ferriar’s “Advice to the Labouring Classes
in Manchester,” given in 1800 441
25. Principles of jurisprudence and responsibility for
accidents: extract from the First Report of the
Commissioners of Inquiry into the Labour of Children in
Factories 442
26. Extract from the report of Mr. John L. Kennedy,
barrister-at-law, to the Commissioners for inquiring into
the Labour of Young Persons in Mines and Manufactories 445
27. Tables of Sickness in prisons 449
28. Tables of Sickness in the wynds of Edinburgh 452
29. Suggested form of notification to owners or occupiers, for
the distribution of the expense of permanent alterations
and the avoidance of overcharges on persons enjoying only
portions of the benefit 453
30. Extracts from evidence as to the moral and physical evils
that may be created by defective arrangements for hiring
and paying workpeople 454
LIST OF PLATES.
Map, exhibiting the track of fever and cholera, and the
badly-cleansed portions of the town of Leeds 160
Map, exhibiting the numbers and places of death from epidemic and
other diseases affected by locality, in the parish of Bethnal
Green, during one year 160
Linear representation of the comparative numbers and progress of
deaths from consumption, from epidemics, and other classes of
disease, in the metropolis, during the two years ended the 1st of
January, 1842 167
Plans and views of habitations for the labouring classes 266
Group of Northumberland cottages, copied from a view given by Dr.
Gilly, canon of Durham;—Group of cottages at Harlaxton, erected
by Gregory Gregory, Esq.;—Plans and elevations of cottages,
erected by the Rev. Benyon de Beauvoir, at Culford,
Suffolk;—Plans of labourers’ cottages, erected by the Earl of
Leicester, at Holkham; by the Earl of Roseberry in Scotland;—Plan
of a new form of labourers’ cottages, erected by Sir Stewart
Monteath, at Closeburn;—Plan of labourers’ cottages, erected by
Messrs. H. and E. Ashworth, at Turton; by S. Greg, Esq., at
Bollington.
Plan, by Mr. Sydney Smirke, of lodging-houses for workmen in towns 274
Section of the chief forms of sewers used in the metropolis 378
Plan of the arrangement of the future increment of towns for the
protection of the sanitary condition and convenience of the
population, by Captain Vetch, of the Royal Engineers 384
General plan of house and street sewerage, and of the construction
of streets favourable to cleansing and dryness, by Captain Vetch 389
Isometrical view of a model agricultural labourer’s cottage, by Mr.
Loudon 396
Isometrical view of a mechanic’s model double cottage, by Mr.
Loudon 398
Furniture of cottages: plans of construction of beds and windows 399
Plans and elevations of labourers’ cottages erected by the Messrs.
H. and E. Ashworth;—Plans and elevations of houses in Birmingham 402
Plan for the arrangement of public walks in restricted space in
towns, as shown in the arrangement of the Arboretum, in Derby, by
Mr. Loudon 406
REPORT
ON THE
SANITARY CONDITION OF THE LABOURING POPULATION,
AND ON
THE MEANS OF ITS IMPROVEMENT.
London, May, 1842.
GENTLEMEN,—Since my special attention was directed to the inquiry as
to the chief removable circumstances affecting the health of the
poorer classes of the population, I have availed myself of every
opportunity to collect information respecting them. In company with
Dr. Arnott I visited Edinburgh and Glasgow, and inspected those
residences that were pointed out by the local authorities as the chief
seats of disease. I also visited Dumfries. An inspection of similar
districts in Spitalfields, Manchester, Leeds, and Macclesfield, and
inquiries formerly made under the Commission of Poor Law Inquiry, and
inspections of the condition of the residences of the poorer classes
in parts of Berkshire, Sussex, and Hertfordshire, had supplied me with
means of comparison. Abandoning any inquiries as to remedies, strictly
so called, or the treatment of diseases after their appearance, I have
directed the examinations of witnesses and the reports of medical
officers chiefly to collect information of the best means available as
preventives of the evils in question. On the documentary evidence of
the medical officers, and on the examinations of witnesses, aided by
personal inspections, I have the honour to report as follows:—
Partial descriptions of the condition of the labouring classes, in
respect to their residences and the habits which influence their
health, afford but a faint conception of the evils which are the
subject of inquiry. If only particular instances, or some groups of
individual cases be adduced, the erroneous impression might be created
that they were cases of comparatively infrequent occurrence. But the
following tabular return made up from the registration of the causes
of death in England and Wales, which is the most complete yet
attained, will give a sufficiently correct conception of the extent of
the evils in question, when illustrated by the evidence of
eye-witnesses, the medical officers whose duty it has been to attend
on the spot and alleviate them. The table comprehends the abstract of
the returns of the deaths from the chief diseases, which the medical
officers consider to be the most powerfully influenced by the physical
circumstances under which the population is placed—as the external and
internal condition of their dwellings, drainage, and ventilation.
_To the Poor Law Commissioners._
_Deaths in Counties from Diseases governed by Locality._