[Report 1856-1857].

  • Bermondsey (London, England). Parish. Vestry.
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1856-1857]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    7/46
    MEDICAL OFFICER'S REPORTS. 7th April, 1856. Gentlemen, In entering upon the duties of Medical Officer of Health of this Parish, I have considered it an object of primary importance to make myself well acquainted with the sanitary condition of the dwellings of the working classes more especially as regards water supply, drainage, and cleanliness. Probably there is no metropolitan district, with a larger proportion of its population, composed of the industrious working classes, and to the condition of their homes has been attributed with justice, not only much of their sickness, poverty and pauperism, but also the intemperance to which they have been liable; for their dwellings too often reek with fœtid gases and offer but a poor place for rest and relaxation after the labour of the day. The question of the water supply of the district demands the first consideration, as the comfort and health of the community rest mainly upon it; and it is with great satisfaction that I testify to the satisfactory change in the condition of the water supplied to Bermondsey now for some months past. Previous to that period it was impure, offensive and unwholesome, thick, discoloured, loaded with mechanical and organic impurities, generally injurious to health, and it especially aggravated the ravages of cholera. It is now as taken from the water pipe, clear, free from mechanical impurities, contains scarcely a trace of organic matter, and only about