[Sanitary inquiry : - England. : Local reports on the sanitary condition of the labouring population of England, in consequence of an inquiry directed to be made by the Poor Law Commissioners. Presented to both Houses of Parliament, by command of Her Majesty, July, 1842].

  • Great Britain. Poor Law Commissioners.
Date:
[1842]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: [Sanitary inquiry : - England. : Local reports on the sanitary condition of the labouring population of England, in consequence of an inquiry directed to be made by the Poor Law Commissioners. Presented to both Houses of Parliament, by command of Her Majesty, July, 1842]. 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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    drains, full of all the animal and vegetable refuse not only of the houses in that part, but of those in other parts of Tiverton. In many of the houses, persons were confined with fever and dif- ferent diseases, and all I talked to, either were ill or had been so; and the whole community presented a melancholy spectacle of disease and misery. Attempts have been made on various occasions by the local au- thorities to correct this state of things by compelling the occupants of the houses to remove nuisances, and to have the drains covered ; but they find that in the present state of the law their powers are not sufficient, and the evil continues and is likely so to do. unless the legislature affords some redress in the nature of sanitary powers. Independently of this nuisance, Tiverton would be con- sidered a fine healthy town, situate as it is on the slope of a hill, with a swift river running at its foot. It is not these unfortunate creatures only who choose this centre of disease for their living-place who are affected, but the whole town is more or less deteriorated by its vicinity to this pestilent mass, where the generation of those elements of disease and of death is constant and continuing. State of the Cottages and Dwellings of the Poor. Another cause of disease is to be found in the state of the cot- tages. Many are built on the ground without flooring, or against a damp hill. Some have neither windows nor doors sufficient to keep out the weather, or to let in the rays of the sun, or supply the means of ventilation; and in others the roof is so constructed or so worn as not to be weather-tight. The thatch roof frequently is saturated with wet, rotten, and in a state of decay, giving out malaria, as other decaying vegetable matter. The construction of the cottages is generally very defective; usually one room on the ground-floor, and one or two on the first-floor. There is often deficient sleeping room, and no means of afford- ing the different members of the family separate apartments: the parents and children, both male and female, frequently sleeping in the same apartment. Many cottages are without privies, and few have the necessary addition of a dust-pit, or a place for washing potatoes, or for other household work. Some of this description of cottages which have come under my observation are the following :— 1. A cottage at Modbury, which I visited with the medical officer: the inmates consumptive: the head of the family in a weak condition; suffering from cough and occasional vomiting of blood. One of his daughters died of consumption a lew months previously. The medical officer stated that, it. was impossible to mitigate the sufferings of the family, unless they were removed to a drier and more comfortable habitation. The ground-floor of mud, and in a very wet and dirty state; the walls streaming with