Metropolitan workhouse infirmaries, &c. : Copy of the report of Dr. Edward Smith, Poor Law inspector and medical officer to the Poor Law Board, on the Metropolitan Workhouse infirmaries and sick wards / (Viscount Enfield).
- Smith, Edward, 1818?-1874.
- Date:
- 1866
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Metropolitan workhouse infirmaries, &c. : Copy of the report of Dr. Edward Smith, Poor Law inspector and medical officer to the Poor Law Board, on the Metropolitan Workhouse infirmaries and sick wards / (Viscount Enfield). Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
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![Part I. Details of the Inspection. Beds, Bedding,] Furniture and Effects. adults; but at Marylebone and Islington one was supplied to each female. At the City of London, St. James’s and St. Margaret Westminster, two were supplied to a ward; at Camberwell, three to each ward; and at Hampstead and Chelsea, one to each ward. Hair-brushes were used to the children. In reference to towels, combs, and brushes, there is a deficiency. Soap is universally supplied by the guardians. In a majority of workhouses a certain quantity is allowed to the ward, part of which is used to clean the ward and part in washing the inmates; and in some workhouses a separate piece of about two ounces is given to each person. In only one or two work- houses was a complaint made of insufficiency of soap; and we were very generally informed that if, from any special reason, an additional quantity of soap was required, it was supplied on asking for it. As this is an article which mijjht readily be wasted, it is probable that the supply is generally limited and watched; and in reference to the question of the distribution of soap to each inmate, and the use of a separate towel, it must not be forgotten that no inconsiderable proportion of the inmates of the wards which we saw were accustomed to get up and wash at the lavatory w ith a piece of soap common to all, and to wipe themselves upon a common towel. The practical test of these questions is the cleanliness of the inmates, and this doubtless far exceeded that of the same class at their own homes, and was not less than that of the inmates of other public institutions. Washhand basins were universally provided, but in numerous workhouses the number was small in proportion to that of the inmates. Usually there were two or three to a ward; but sometimes only one, and that a broken one, could be found ; and in others, six or seven were supplied to each ward. Those inmates who did not keep their beds did not use these basins, but washed in the lavatory; and as the persons who washed the inmates rarely exceeded two, scarcely more than that number of basins could be used by them. In some workhouses, as at Fulham, we found wards with only one basin for the use of all the inmates, whether able to rise or not; and as it is probable that some of the inmates who kept their beds were able to sit up to wash themselves, we could not doubt that in this, as in cases where even two or three basins were allowed, the supply was insufficient. The basins were very generally of white pottery ; but in some they were of dirty looking tin, and, in others, of metal, with or without a lining of enamel. In some, as at Wandsworth, they were small in size. At Kensington and Paddington, two West-end workhouses, w’e found the disgraceful fact, of some of the inmates washing in the chamber pots. This occurred only in one ward in each workhouse, and was owing, not to the general absence of washhand basins, but to the fact that the washhand basins in charge of those particular pauper nurses had been broken. In each case the master was present with us, and appeared to be quite unaware of the occurrence of this filthy habit, and blamed the pauper nurse for not having asked for additional basins; but it appeared to us, and so we expressed ourselves, that the fault and the discredit rested upon him and the matron, and at Paddington, upon the newly-appointed paid nurse, for not making themselves acquainted with the ordinary proceedings in their workhouse. We were told that the same practice had formerly existed in some of the wards at St. George-the-Martyr ; but under the present vigilant and intelligent master, this, with a multitude of other evils, had passed away. We were also informed, by the medical officer at the East London Union, that the inmates would adopt the same practice there if not sharply looked after; that it was not an uncommon habit in the homes of the poor; and that even in a militia regiment, with wffiich he had been officially connected, this dirty practice had occurred. It may be presumed, and we learnt that at Paddington it was so, that the pots were in each case washed before being used for this purpose. Urinals were universally supplied to each bed, and many of them, as would be probable, had the handle broken off. Waste paper for use at the water-closet was supplied in but very few work- houses. This appears to be really both a hardship to the inmates and a disgrace to the guardians; and has led in numberless instances to the use of old towels, dusters, and dishcloths, which were thrown down the water-closet, and in I](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24914903_0018.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
