Report on the cholera outbreak in the parish of St. james, Westminster, during the autumn of 1854 / Presented to the vestry by The Cholera Inquiry Committee July 1855.

  • Westminster. Parish of St. James. Cholera Inquiry Committee.
Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the cholera outbreak in the parish of St. james, Westminster, during the autumn of 1854 / Presented to the vestry by The Cholera Inquiry Committee July 1855. 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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    wise than by industry is certainly small. Besides the residents in this crowded district there is a daily influx and efflux of probably 2000 persons engaged within it in various workshops and factories in none of which however are any specially in- jurious processes carried on. The larger and less crowded streets are occupied by tradespeople and the professional classes, in every way corresponding with those of similar neighbourhoods. Dwelling Houses,—internal economy as to space, light, ventilation, and general cleanliness.—For the most part the houses in this district are old, having been built about the years 1700 to 1740. As already stated, the yards are very small and much covered, but there are no houses built back to back. In some streets the houses are what are termed 3rd class houses, containing from 10 to 15 rooms. In the smaller streets they are 4th class houses. The rooms of course vary in size and height, and, as usual in dwellings constructed 150 years back, are not objectionable unless over-filled with in- habitants. Cellars and vaults are common; the front areas are narrow and much covered in. Of light there is, generally speaking, an abundance, as the numerous windows, constructed before the adoi> tion of a Window Duty, have been re-opened since its abolition. The indoor ventilation is, on the whole, defective, the staircases and passages being seized—a conclusion entirely in accordance with their varied position in society, and also with the assertions of those who know the district.