Mr. R.D.R. Sweeting's report to the Local Government Board on the prevalence of diphtheria and enteric fever in the Tottenham urban sanitary district / [R.D.R. Sweeting].

  • Sweeting, R. Deane.
Date:
[1885]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Mr. R.D.R. Sweeting's report to the Local Government Board on the prevalence of diphtheria and enteric fever in the Tottenham urban sanitary district / [R.D.R. Sweeting]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ► W «c* w W library I General Collections +P 172 Mr. R. D. R. Sweeting’s Report to the Local Government Board on the prevalence of Diphtheria and Enteric Fever in the Tottenham Urban Sanitary District. R. Thorne Thorne, Assistant Medical Officer, August 18tli, 1885. This inquiry was ordered on account of the continued fatal prevalence in Tottenham of Diphtheria and Enteric Fever, shown by the Registrar-General’s Quarterly Returns, and in reference also to a petition from some of the inhabi¬ tants of Broad Green in this Urban District, complaining of the condition of the Moselle Brook, and of the prevalence of the above-named diseases. The Local Board District of Tottenham, the Registration Sub-district of Tottenham, and the Tottenham Parish are coterminous. The District has an area of 4,403 acres, and its population is greatly on the increase, having risen from 22,869 in 1871 to 46,456 at the last census; whilst at the present time it is computed to be not far short of 70,000. The population has thus doubled itself in the inter-censual period; and, if the same rate of increase which has taken place since 1881 be continued, Tottenham will at the next census contain at least 100,000 people. Tottenham is bounded north by Edmonton, west by Hornsey, south by Stoke Newington and Hackney, whilst to the east is the River Lea, separating it from the parish of Walthamstow. The eastern part of the Parish is low-lying and flat, but that to the west, in the Wood Green district, is considerably elevated. Geologically, Tottenham is upon London Clay, which is overlaid in the part of the district adjacent to the River Lea by river gravel and alluvium. In 1873, on account of a severe outbreak of Enteric Fever, an inspection of the district was made by the late Mr. Netten Radcliffe. He ascribed this outbreak to the effect of a great flood in the Lea valley, which suspended for a time operations at the sewage outfall works. During this flood, sewage became extensively backed up along the whole line of sewers, so that at low levels, house basements and cellars became flooded with sewage escaping upwards through drain-inlets; while at high levels, from dimi¬ nution of the air space in sewers and increased tension of the sewer air brought about by this backing up of sewage, the sewer air was of necessity driven out into and around dwellings. Mr. Radcliffe also credited the Local ' Board’s water supply with some share in the outbreak, since he found evidence of contamination of the “Land water” (which supplemented the water¬ works’ supply) by the same flood sweeping sewage over the gravel area from which this water was derived. Upon the whole, he considered the persistent prevalence of Enteric Fever in Tottenham to depend for the most part upon want of sewer ventilation, existence of cesspools, defects of house drainage, ditch nuisances, and impure water supply. It will be convenient to examine the vital statistics of Tottenham Urban Sanitary District during the period which has elapsed since Mr. Radcliffe’s inquiry, viz., 1874 to 1884; and to note more particularly the death rate from Diphtheria and “ Fever ” in each year. This has been done in the follow¬ ing Table :— u 17840. 150.—8/85. Wt. 4454. E. & S. A