Dr. Sutherland's report on the outbreak of cholera, in the workhouse of the Taunton Union; and the reply of the Board of Guardians. 1849.

  • Sutherland, John, 1808-1891.
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. Sutherland's report on the outbreak of cholera, in the workhouse of the Taunton Union; and the reply of the Board of Guardians. 1849. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    9/24 (page 9)
    REPLY. The Board of Guardians have given their most serious consideration to the letter of the Poor Law Board of the 16th of November last, and likewise to the copy of Dr. Sutherland’s report on the outbreak of cholera in the Workhouse, and they now desire to offer the following observations thereon ;— Dr. Sutherland’s report to the Board of Health is so different in tone and character from that orally made by him to this Board immediately sub¬ sequent to his first visit to the Workhouse, that its perusal could not fail to excite surprise in the minds of the Guardians. Moreover, they cannot but express their regret that a public officer, in the prosecution of a most important enquiry, should deem it consistent with his duty, while in constant communication with a public and responsible body of Guar¬ dians, who received his visit with courtesy, and were willing to give him any information, documentary or otherwise, he may have required, to give credence to statements made to him exparte by private individuals impugning the character and conduct of this Board, and should have promulgated them with the sanction of his authority, without first taking the most obvious means of testing their correctness, or giving the Board an opportunity of refuting them, if unfounded. These statements will be more fully adverted to hereafter in commen¬ ting on the report. Dr. Sutherland states the following as among the more prominent causes which appear to him to have predisposed to the outbreak of cholera ;— 1st.—Overcrowding and defective ventilation. 2nd.—Want of personal cleanliness. 3rd.—General structural defects in the building. 4th.—The nature of the diet. The Guardians will proceed to consider the first and third of these causes conjointly. They beg in the first place to draw the attention of the Poor Law Board to a paragraph in the second annual report of the Poor Law Commis¬ sioners (page 28,) in which they state “ that after an enlarged experience, the plans for the construction of Work-houses, which, with professional aid, they had prepared and circulated for general information, were, in their judgment, on the whole, superior, both as regards cheapness and completeness of arrangement to any of the other numerous plans which had come under their notice.” This Board of Guardians, at its formation, being desirous of profiting by the Commissioners’ experience, and of erecting a Work-house on the most approved principles, appointed Mr. Kempthorne, their architect, who was the designer of the plans which the Commissioners had stamped V ith their approval. The plan of the present Work-house was prepared by him. and under his superintendence, and with the sanction of the Commissioners it was constructed to accom¬ modate 400 inmates.