The sanitary condition of the City of London: being a letter to the Lord Ashley from the City Remembrancer, on the statements of the Sub-Committee of the Health of Towns Association; with the Sub-Committee's reply and Lord Ashley's letter [T. Beggs, secretary].

  • Health of Towns Association (London, England)
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The sanitary condition of the City of London: being a letter to the Lord Ashley from the City Remembrancer, on the statements of the Sub-Committee of the Health of Towns Association; with the Sub-Committee's reply and Lord Ashley's letter [T. Beggs, secretary]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    1] necessities to live are revolting’ to the senses, and most disgraceful to a Christian community. “ That the presentments have ceased to have any effect. “ That the labours of the inquest are, consequently, useless, except in disclosing to the more respectable inhabitants the horrible state of those places, which was unknown to its full extent, except on an official visit, such as is made by the inquest. “ The inquest found that the poor people are sensible of the sickness and misery occasioned by the frightful nuisances to which we refer, and they on our rounds directed our attention to open privies, and to gully-holes, from which they said, ‘ The stink was enough to suffocate you.’ “In St. Dunstan’s Court, for example, a woman pointed to the whole basement floor, overflowing with the contents of the privy and cess¬ pool ; MANY OF THE JURY COULD NOT GO DOWN TO VIEW IT, FROM THE FOUL SMELL.” The correctness of these statements, and the truth of Dr. Lynch’s representations and descriptions, have received the following melancholy confirmation by an eye-witness, also a member of the Corporation. In a speech delivered by Mr. Anderton, a member of the Common Council, at the London Coffee House, on the 17th of August, 1847, on the occasion of a public meeting held to promote a subscription in behalf of the widow and children of Dr. Lynch, Mr. Anderton made the following observations :— u He had frequently heard Dr. Lynch expatiate largely upon the sanitary condition of the lower orders resident within the locality in which he was then speaking ; he had heard him describe the wretched¬ ness of their dwellings for the want of a better sewerage, for the want of a better circulation of air, and a larger supply of that necessary of life—pure water, and the crowded state in which the poor were com¬ pelled to live; but, like many others, he (Mr. A.) was incredulous to the statements, and could not believe that such things could exist in this the metropolis of England and the seat of Government, until at last he told Dr. Lynch that he would accompany him in his rounds, and examine into the condition of the poor himself; and accordingly he devoted the best part of three days to that purpose. He visited, with the Doctor, some of those wretched localities he had so often spoken of; and although within the immediate vicinity of Farringdon-street and Holborn-hill, he not only found the Doctor’s statements fully borne out, but such was the stench and unwholesome smells, that he is con¬ vinced that, if on the third day he had remained a few minutes longer in the place he was then visiting, he would not have been present at that meeting to tell the tale. Upon leaving the spot, which was in Field-lane, he was obliged to have recourse to a glass of brandy to relieve him from the nausea which affected him, and which he did not overcome for several days. He believed there were other parts of the City and the vicinity equally as bad, and no part of the kingdom worse. (Mr. Deputy Obbard, ‘ No, no.’) The Deputy said ‘ No, no it was because he had not visited them ; had he done so, he would have found that neither Dr. Lynch or himself (Mr. A.) had made any exaggeration in their statements; and for the sake of the Deputy and his family, he