St. Giles, Camberwell : report on the Sanitary Acts in their relation to the houses of the very poor.

  • Bristowe, John Syer, 1827-1895.
Date:
[1884]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: St. Giles, Camberwell : report on the Sanitary Acts in their relation to the houses of the very poor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    y ♦ • St. (Biles, Camberwell. REPORT ON THE SANITARY ACTS IN THEIR RELATION TO THE HOUSES OF THE VERY POOR. The subject of the housing of the very poor has again been brought prominently before the public. Distinguished members of both houses of Parliament, who have probably little or no real acquaintance with it, have been parading their views on the nature and extent of the existing evil, and as to how this evil may best be dealt with ; with the object (if one may deduce it from the character of their utterances) rather of bidding for popularity than of dealing with it in a practical way. Clergy- men, who are probably more shocked at the immorality pre- vailing amongst the very poor and at their little knowledge or appreciation of Christianity than at their actual sanitary condition, have written highly-coloured accounts of the wretchedness of the hovels they inhabit. And public meetings have been held at which all but those who are best acquainted with the domestic condition of the very poor have expressed their feelings, and have passed hasty resolutions, some of which, at any rate, if embodied in Acts of Parliament would probably aggravate the evils they were intended to cure. It is largely forgotten hy most of those who address them- selves to the subject that a considerable though unascertained percentage of our population is composed of persons whoso natural tendency is to grovel—beggars, thieves, prostitutes, drunkards, persons of lazy and improvident habits, persons of feeble intelligence, and persons who (like too many of the poor) many or cohabit prematurely and procreate large families for a kw A