Bilston, in the Wolverhampton Union, describes the condition of the
population of a colliery district:—
“Bilston, like Wolverhampton, has not been visited by fever to any
extent since the cholera in 1832. The awful destruction which then
occurred swept off many of those subjects who might afterwards have
been victims of fever; in fact Bilston was, after the cessation of
cholera, nearly free from disease of any kind for several months.
Influenza has occasionally visited us and swept off a few. Small-pox a
few years ago was prevalent, but not very fatal, although many
children from negligence on the part of the parents are not
vaccinated. Scarlet fever has appeared sometimes, but only in
straggling cases. The occupations of the poorer classes are chiefly
colliers, labourers, &c., great members of the latter being Irish. The
houses of those applying for parochial medical relief which I have
visited have been dirty and crowded, the habits of the working classes
here being generally improvident and dirty, many parties forming heaps
of filth close to their doors; and here, as in Wolverhampton, I am
afraid it would require the interference of the law to effect any
permanent good. Some years ago a large culvert was carried down the
principal street which has made a great improvement in that part, but
much yet remains undrained. I would mention a place in High-street
especially, near to a court, crowded with Irish, there is a pool of
green stagnant water or mud continually; another place called the
Berry, behind the King’s Arms Inn, and a third in a court in
Temple-street, where there appears to be a drain which has been choked
up, the stench from which is intolerable.”
_Dr. Edward Knight_ gives the following description of the sanitary
condition of the town of Stafford:—
“During the year ending September 29th, 1839, there have been in the
fever-wards connected with the Stafford County General Infirmary 76
cases of fever, of which number 10 have died, and the remaining 66
were discharged cured. The far greater part of these cases commenced
in the town of Stafford, some being brought to the infirmary in a
dying state, which gives a greater rate of mortality. Although the
fever-wards are well arranged, and every comfort and attention
provided for the patients, there is a general dislike on the part of
the poor to be removed to them from their own houses, except in cases
of actual necessity.
“Owing to this, and the filthy state of those parts of the town
occupied exclusively by the lower classes, as the ‘Broad-eye,’
‘Back-walls,’ &c., we have generally more or less of infectious
diseases during the autumn and winter months in each year, and
although such diseases do not extend their ravages to the more
respectable inhabitants, the above form but a very small portion of
the cases which occur.
“These parts of the town are without drainage, the houses, which are
private property, are built without any regard to situation or
ventilation, and constructed in a manner to ensure the greatest return
at the least possible outlay. The accommodation in them does not
extend beyond two rooms; these are small, and, for the most part, the
families work in the day-time in the same room in which they sleep, to
save fuel.
“There is not any provision made for refuse dirt, which, as the least
trouble, is thrown down in front of the houses, and there left to
putrefy. The back entrances to the houses in the principal streets are
generally into these, the stabling and cow-houses, &c., belonging to
them, forming one side of the street, and the manure, refuse vegetable
matter, &c., carried into the street, and placed opposite to the
poorer houses; so that they are continually subjected to the malaria
arising from that, in addition to their own dirt.
“The sedentary occupation of the working classes (shoemaking being the
staple trade of the town), their own want of cleanliness and general
intemperance, form, also, a fruitful source of disease. One-half of
the week is usually spent in the public-houses, and the other half
they work night and day to procure the necessary subsistence for their
families. There is a great want of improvement in the moral character
of the poor; they can obtain sufficient wages to support their
families respectably, but they are improvident and never make any
provision against illness. A local Act for the improvement of the town
empowers the commissioners to remove nuisances; but no notice is ever
taken. The situation of Stafford also offers every facility for an
efficient drainage; it is nearly surrounded by a large ditch, in which
there might be a running stream of water, well calculated to remove
all impurities; but it is always choked up, and in a stagnant state.
The river ‘Sow’ is also close to the town. There are not any sewers
even in the principal streets, the water being carried off by open
channels. In the Lunatic Asylum, which closely adjoins the town, and
averages 250 patients, great attention is paid to cleanliness, and we
never have any infectious diseases.”
In the month of December, 1839, an application was made to the Board for
advice and aid to meet the emergencies created by an epidemic which had
broken out in the parish of Breadsall in the Shardlow union
(Derbyshire). Mr. Senior, the Assistant Commissioner for the district,
accompanied Dr. Kennedy to the spot where the fever was prevalent, and
that report[2] may be submitted to attention, as containing a picture of
the habits of a large proportion of the population of that part of the
country, and an exemplification in a group of individual cases of the
common causes and effects of such calamities on the labouring
population.
The report from Dr. Baker, of Derby, and Mr. Senior’s report, comprising
the returns from the medical officers of Nottingham, Lincoln, and other
rural and town unions within his district, pourtray the sanitary
condition of a large proportion of the population included in them.
Proceeding northward, a report from _Mr. Bland_, the medical officer of
the Macclesfield union, gives the following description of the state of
the residences occupied by many of the labourers of that town:—
“In a part of the town called the Orchard, Watercoates, there are 34
houses without back doors, or other complete means of ventilation; the
houses are chiefly small, damp, and dark; they are rendered worse with
respect to dampness perhaps than they would be from the habit of the
people closing their windows to keep them warm. To these houses are
three privies uncovered; here little pools of water, with all kinds of
offal, dead animal and vegetable matter are heaped together, a most
foul and putrid mass, disgusting to the sight, and offensive to the
smell; the fumes of contagion spreads periodically itself in the
neighbourhood, and produces different types of fever and disorder of
the stomach and bowels. The people inhabiting these abodes are pale
and unhealthy, and in one house in particular are pale, bloated, and
rickety.”
_Mr. William Rayner_, the medical officer of the Heaton Norris district
of the Stockport union describes the condition of a part of the
population of that place:—
“The localities in which fever mostly prevails in my district, are
Shepherd’s Buildings and Back Water Street, both in the township of
Heaton Norris. Shepherd’s Buildings consist of two rows of houses with
a street seven yards wide between them; each row consists of what are
styled back and front houses—that is two houses placed back to back.
There are no yards or out-conveniences; the privies are in the centre
of each row, about a yard wide; over them there is part of a
sleeping-room; there is no ventilation in the bed-rooms; each house
contains two rooms, viz., a house place and sleeping room above; each
room is about three yards wide and four long. In one of these houses
there are nine persons belonging to one family, and the mother on the
eve of her confinement. There are 44 houses in the two rows, and 22
cellars, all of the same size. The cellars are let off as separate
dwellings; these are dark, damp, and very low, not more than six feet
between the ceiling and floor. The street between the two rows is
seven yards wide, in the centre of which is the common gutter, or more
properly sink, into which all sorts of refuse is thrown; it is a foot
in depth. Thus there is always a quantity of putrefying matter
contaminating the air. At the end of the rows is a pool of water very
shallow and stagnant, and a few yards further, a part of the town’s
gas works. In many of these dwellings there are four persons in one
bed.
“Backwater-street, the other locality of fever, is proverbially the
most filthy street in the town, contains a number of lodging-houses
and Irish, who mostly live in dark damp cellars, in which the light
can scarcely penetrate.
“It is not to be wondered at that such places should be the constant
foci of fevers; there is scarcely a house in Shepherd’s-buildings that
has not been affected with fever, and in some instances repeatedly:
new residents are most liable to be affected, the force of habit, or
some other protecting influence seems to render those who have lived
there some time less liable to be attacked. The same circumstance has
been noticed by others, and M. Louis, who is known throughout Europe,
having made this subject one of particular observation, states that it
is generally within the first year that new comers take fever, whilst
the old inhabitants who are equally exposed to the same exciting
causes escape.”
The report of Dr. Baron Howard, on the condition of the population of
Manchester, and that of Dr. Duncan, on the condition of the population
of Liverpool, will make up a progressive view of the condition of the
labouring population in those parts of the country. The Report of one of
the medical officers of the West Derby union, with relation to the
condition of the labouring population connected with Liverpool, will
serve to show that the evils in question are not confined to the
labouring population of the town properly so called.
“The locality of the residences of the labouring classes are in
respect to the surrounding atmosphere favourably situated, but their
internal structure and economy the very reverse of favourable. The
cottages are in general built more with a view to the per centage of
the landlord than to the accommodation of the poor. The joiner’s work
is ill performed; admitting by the doors, windows, and even floors,
air in abundance, which, however, in many cases, is not
disadvantageous to the inmates. The houses generally consist of three
apartments, viz., the day-room, into which the street-door opens, and
two bed-rooms, one above the other. There is likewise beneath the
day-room a cellar, let off either by the landlord or tenant of the
house, to a more improvident class of labourers; which cellar, in
almost all cases, is small and damp, and often crowded with
inhabitants to excess. These cellars are, in my opinion, the source of
many diseases, particularly catarrh, rheumatic affections, and tedious
cases of typhus mitior, which, owing to the overcrowded state of the
apartment, occasionally pass into typhus gravior. I need scarcely add
that the furniture and bedding are in keeping with the miserable
inmates. The rooms above the day-room are often let separately by the
tenant to lodgers, varying in number from one or two, to six or eight
individuals in each, their slovenly habits, indolence, and consequent
accumulation of filth go far to promote the prevalence of contagious
and infectious diseases.
“The houses already alluded to front the street, but there are houses
in back courts still more unfavourably placed, which also have their
cellars, and their tenants of a description worse, if possible. There
is commonly only one receptacle for refuse in a court of eight, ten,
or twelve densely crowded houses. In the year 1836–7, I attended a
family of 13, twelve of whom had typhus fever, without a bed in the
_cellar_, without straw or timber shavings—frequent substitutes. They
lay on the floor, and so crowded, that I could scarcely pass between
them. In another house I attended 14 patients; there were only two
beds in the house. All the patients, as lodgers, lay on the boards,
and during their illness, never had their clothes off. I met with many
cases in similar conditions, yet amidst the greatest destitution and
want of domestic comfort, I have never heard during the course of
twelve years’ practice, a complaint of inconvenient accommodation.”
The following extract from the report of _Mr. Pearson_, medical officer
of the Wigan union, is descriptive of the condition of large classes of
tenements in the manufacturing towns of Lancashire:—
“From the few observations which I have been enabled to make
respecting the causes of fever during the two months which I have held
the situation of house surgeon to the Dispensary, I am inclined to
consider the filthy condition of the town as being the most prominent
source. Many of the streets are unpaved and almost covered with
stagnant water, which lodges in numerous large holes which exist upon
their surface, and into which the inhabitants throw all kinds of
rejected animal and vegetable matters, which then undergo decay and
emit the most poisonous exhalations. These matters are often allowed,
from the filthy habits of the inhabitants of these districts, many of
whom, especially the poor Irish, are utterly regardless both of
personal and domestic cleanliness, to accumulate to an immense extent,
and thus become prolific sources of malaria, rendering the atmosphere
an active poison. The streets which particularly exhibit this
condition are Ashton-street, Hanover-street, Stuart-street,
John-street, Lord-street, Duke-street, Princess-street, and the short
streets leading from Queen-street, into Faggy-lane and
Princess-street. It may be also mentioned, that in many of these
streets there are no privies, or, if there are, they are in so filthy
a condition as to be absolutely useless; the absence of these must,
necessarily, increase the quantity of filth, and thus materially add
to the extent of the nuisance.
“In addition to the streets above mentioned, there are, besides, two
other localities, which must be considered as peculiarly fitted for
the generation of malaria—I mean the waste land in front of Bradshaw
Gate, and also that situated between Greenough’s-row and
Kerfoot’s-row; the latter is one complete pool of stagnant water,
mixed with various descriptions of putrifying animal and vegetable
matters. Many of the yards and courts in various parts of the town are
so built up as to prevent the movements of the atmosphere, and are in
a horribly filthy state, in consequence of dunghills which are
situated therein being allowed to grow to an immense size, and the
water which drains therefrom being permitted to flow over the
surface.”
Proceeding northwards, little difference is observable in the condition
of the working classes in the ancient towns, where the habitations were
crowded for the sake of fortification, and in the manufacturing towns,
where the habitations are crowded for the sake of vicinity to the places
of work, or from ignorance and inattention, or from the high price of
land. We cite the following instances of the condition of the
habitations and population in Durham, Barnard Castle, and Carlisle:—
_Mr. Nicholas Oliver_, Durham, states that—
“The city of Durham, like all ancient cities and towns, is built very
irregularly, and surrounded on all sides by the river Wear, which is
frequently overflown, and much wooded. These in summer and autumn, by
the combined influences of heat, moisture, and decaying vegetable
substances, become abundant sources of malaria. The streets are very
narrow, and the houses are built so much behind each other that the
entrance to a great many of the dwellings is by a passage, lane, or
alley, either a steep ascent or descent, where, from a proper want of
receptacles and sewers, filth is allowed to accumulate, and there
necessarily is a constant emanation of fœtid effluvia. The majority of
the houses are very old and in a dilapidated state, several not being
weather proof. The great bulk of the working classes inhabit these
tenements, and they seldom occupy more than two rooms, many only one,
where all that is requisite in conducing to cleanliness and comfort
has to be performed.
“The spirit of improvement, which is making such rapid strides in
other parts of the country, is here quite dormant. Nothing calls
louder for the attention of the constituted authorities than the
improvements which might be effected in the habitations of the
industrious classes, thereby increasing their health, comfort, and
happiness.”
_Mr. George Brown_, of Barnard Castle, in the Teesdale union, states
that—
“The residences of the labouring population within the Teesdale Union,
especially in Barnard Castle and the more populous villages, is mostly
in large houses let into tenements. At least four-fifths of the
weavers in Barnard Castle live in such residences, and about one half
of all the other labouring poor in the Union. The tenements which form
the residences of the weavers and other labourers in Barnard Castle
are principally situate in Thorngage, Bridgegate, and the lower parts
of the town, and in confined yards and alleys. The houses are many of
them very large. I am told somewhere there are as many as 50 or more
individuals under one roof. There is generally, perhaps, one privy to
a whole yard (or onset as they term it), embracing five or six houses.
From the crowded state of these dwelling-houses, and the filthiness of
many of their inmates, disease would undoubtedly arise more commonly
than it actually does, but the river Tees flows at the foot of each
yard, running alongside of all the houses in Bridgegate. The
impurities are thus speedily carried away, and the evils which might
otherwise be expected from the effluvia of vegetable and other bodies
in a state of decomposition are prevented; besides which, the houses
in general being large and the poorer class in the upper stories, they
are more protected against cold and damp.”
_Mr. Brown_, in regard to Barnard Castle, further states, that—
“A surgeon here of great intelligence and practice states that in the
town of Barnard Castle he has always found the most obstinate cases of
typhus and other epidemics, and also rheumatism, to prevail amongst
the houses on the west side of the principal street. These houses
slope towards the moat of the old castle, which is not sufficiently
drained; and the thick and high walls of the ruins of the castle
retain the damp, and prevent the accession of the western winds to the
moat and many of the houses. In the interior of the castle, now used
as a garden, there is a stagnant pond which ought to be drained off:
this pond is nearly opposite the yards, which are full of the
residences of the poorer classes, and called the Swamp. Disease is
often found to exist in these yards, and the surgeon I have referred
to attributes to it the dampness of the moat (upon or on the margin of
which the houses are built) and to the pond before mentioned. All the
houses on the west side of the street have one step, and some more,
down from the street. I am also told by the same surgeon that very
many of the cases of fever and rheumatism which he attends may be
fairly traced to the dampness of houses or want of sufficient drainage
of the ground previously to building, and their being built below the
level of the adjoining ground, by which the moisture is thrown into
them.”
_Mr. Rowland_, of Carlisle, states—
“Though Carlisle abounds with beautiful walks, it generally has them
accompanied with filthy putrid gutters, and there seems no mode of
compelling any one to clean them out. The city is surrounded with such
nuisances; on the south side at the foot of Botchergate, there is a
gutter, perhaps a mile long, which conducts the filth of that quarter
through the fields into the river Petteril. The stench in summer is
very great. The filth seems to accumulate from want of descent, and
probably the whole descent is in the first field next Botchergate. If
this gutter was paved and the descent made regular, I have no doubt it
would keep itself clean.”
The following is a brief notice of the condition of the residences of
the population amidst which the cholera first made its appearance in
this country.
_Mr. Robert Atkinson_, Gateshead, states, that—
“It is impossible to give a proper representation of the wretched
state of many of the inhabitants of the indigent class, situated in
the confined streets called Pipewellgate and Killgate, which are kept
in a most filthy state, and to a stranger would appear inimical to the
existence of human beings, where each small, ill ventilated apartment
of the house contained a family with lodgers in number from seven to
nine, and seldom more than two beds for the whole. The want of
convenient offices in the neighbourhood is attended with many very
unpleasant circumstances, as it induces the lazy inmates to make use
of chamber utensils, which are suffered to remain in the most
offensive state for several days, and are then emptied out of the
windows. The writer had occasion a short time ago to visit a person
ill of the cholera; his lodgings were in a room of a miserable house
situated in the very filthiest part of Pipewellgate, divided into six
apartments, and occupied by different families to the number of 26
persons in all. The room contained three wretched beds with two
persons sleeping in each: it measured about 12 feet in length and 7 in
breadth, and its greatest height would not admit of a person’s
standing erect; it received light from a small window, the sash of
which was fixed. Two of the number lay ill of the cholera, and the
rest appeared afraid of the admission of pure air, having carefully
closed up the broken panes with plugs of old linen.”
The _Rev. Dr. Gilly_, the vicar of Norham and canon of Durham, in an
appeal in behalf of the border peasantry, describes their dwellings as
“built of rubble or unhewn stone, loosely cemented; and from age, or
from badness of the materials, the walls look as if they would scarcely
hold together.” The chinks gape in so many places as admit blasts of
wind:—
“The chimneys have lost half their original height, and lean on the
roof with fearful gravitation. The rafters are evidently rotten and
displaced; and the thatch, yawning to admit the wind and wet in some
parts, and in all parts utterly unfit for its original purpose of
giving protection from the weather, looks more like the top of a
dunghill than of a cottage.