Quarterly report on the sanitary condition of the parish of Saint Luke, Middlesex. July, August, and September, 1856 / by F.W. Pavy.

  • Pavy, F. W. (Frederick William), 1829-1911.
Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Quarterly report on the sanitary condition of the parish of Saint Luke, Middlesex. July, August, and September, 1856 / by F.W. Pavy. 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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    Old Street District, the census gave 204 persons to an acre; in the City Road District, 219 ; in the Finsbury district, 223; and in the Whitecross Street District, 414, or one inhabitant to about every 111 yards of surface ! Deduct the space occupied as streets, the centres of courts, alleys, etc., and what will be the crowding, when the inhabitants are housed, and what must be the refuse, and what the contamination of the atmosphere, arising from such a dense congregation of living beings, in habitations as badly constructed for ventilation, as they are deficient of the necessary conveniences of life!! The only two sub-districts in London, more densely popu- lated than our Whitecross Street District, are Saint Andrew’s, Eastern Holborn, which returned 423, and Berwick Street, Saint James’ Westminster, which returned 432 persons to an acre. Humber of Houses. According to the census of 1851, there were 6349 inhabited, and 247 uninhabited houses in the parish, which with the population at the same period gives 8.5 persons to an inhabited house. The average annual value of houses is £28. Water Supply. The water supply is entirely derived from the New River Company’s service; and although, there are in many parts great complaints of its deficiency, yet, for domestic purposes certainly, this arises rather from an absence of proper receptacles for its col- lection and retention, than of any failure in the source. The Water supply of the parish, however, is a subject to which my attention has been for some time past specially directed. In compliance with the request of your Sanitary Committee, I have already com- pleted my Analyses of several of its spring waters and of different specimens of the New River Company’s supply, but as there are waters that still remain to be examined, I shall reserve my remarks on this subject for a future and special report.