Report to the General Board of Health on a preliminary inquiry into the sewerage, drainage, and supply of water, and the sanitary condition of the inhabitants of the townships of Alnwick and Canongate, in the county of Northumberland / by Robert Rawlinson, Superintending Inspector.

Robert Rawlinson

Date:: 1850

Credit: Report to the General Board of Health on a preliminary inquiry into the sewerage, drainage, and supply of water, and the sanitary condition of the inhabitants of the townships of Alnwick and Canongate, in the county of Northumberland / by Robert Rawlinson, Superintending Inspector. Source: Wellcome Collection.

18/89 (page 15)

$of the town: the houses here are the most crowded and in the most filthy condition. In Fenkle-street there is a privy which when last emptied the man residing near took the cholera and died. The prevailing diseases in all the crowded districts are scarlet fever, typhus fever, small-pox, and diseases of this type and character. • r?h-ere is a room over a privy and ashPU' 1 inquired of the person inhabiting it as to her health, and she said she was never well My own impression is, that much of the existing disease may be prevented by proper drains and sanitary works. [For additional evidence, see Appendix.] ' George Wilson, sen., Esq., surgeon :— « Having heard Mr. Davison's evidence, I fully concur in all that he fhlS }' .In,myPract'ceI have invariably found the most disease in the ill-drained, crowded, and ill-ventilated districts. George Wilson, jun.,Esq., M.D. :— « Has heard the evidence of Mr. Davison, and also confirms it. The &\ T°nyaV W°,,ld Wi8h toistance; particularly one ftm.ly here was hvmg with a dung-heap directly before the window There are one or two lodging-houses in the yard, and six cases of cholera have occurred here. Thomas Rickaby stated,— There is a drain on the north side of Clayport-street; water used cut off Tfm S/Kr ma»yyears 5t **E by some means bee be f°UL There haS *heh cholera Mr. James Bowmaker:— few xtg&M. s£B S The drains from the backs of the houses irP nf th2 u g some pass through the passages other under * to sZ^tZT'' and empty their contents out into the surfaj-c^ passmg under the houses have been compWd of ^ dramS Mr. Thomas Robertson :— from this drain was vcrv bid Wo Wi , s t tHne- -the nuisance the late Mr T n i i y lad much SIck'iess in the house, wh.Vh famUyare fa^q, meU-! h„e „„ S&\^£*££ AZ~ DEF1C,ENTTate, pM(master of ftT to„',rTl!'ee bi«„a IT,-8™' SCarC^ °f °< *™SW$