Extracts from the evidence given before a select committee of the House of Commons on the health of towns / by George Alfred Walker.
- George Alfred Walker
- Date:
- [1841]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Extracts from the evidence given before a select committee of the House of Commons on the health of towns / by George Alfred Walker. 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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![APPENDIX. EVIDENCE GIVEN BEFORE PARLIAMENT. The following is the evidence given by Mr. Walker before the Select Comtnittee on the Health of Towns, at two examinations, namely, on the 26th of May and the 4th of June last year. The Committee consisted of the following members :— Mr. Slaney.—Chairman. Lord James Stuart, Mr. Mackiiinon, Mr. Vigors, Mr. John Pousonby, Mr. Cowper, Mr. Greene, Mr. Richard Walker, Mr. Wilson Patten, Sir Harry Varney, Mr. Baines, Mr. Oswald, Mr. Tufnell, Mr. Brotherton, and Mr. Ingham. George Alfred Walker^ Esq. called in; and Examined. (May 26, 1840.) 3116. Chairman^ You are a medical man residing in the neigh- bourhood of Drury Lane, are you not ?—I am. 3117. That is a district surroimded by a populous neighbourhood, with a considerable number of courts opening into it in different di- rections, is it not?—Yes; but I consider it a good neighbourhood upon the whole. 3118. Are there not some courts in which there is no exit through them ?—Yes ; there is a cul-de-sac, named Wellington Court formerly, and which is now called Nag's Head Court, and others. 3119. Is that inhabited by a considerable number of persons of the poorer class?—It is inhabited principally by Irish. The sewerage is in a very bad state ; in fact, there is no sewerage there ; there is a contrivance which is a sort of cabinet d'aisance, in which the excre- mentitious matter has frequently been ankle deep on the floor. I visited the place only yesterday. 3120. Mr. Corsper.\ Do you mean the floor of the house?—You pass through a passage, you enter the passage door, and in the corner is this place, and a most filthy and disgusting one it is. 3121. Chairman.] Is there any system of cleansing or scavenger- ing there?—There used to be a contrivance that would be something like an ordinary place ; there are two holes, and when they are filled with the excrementitious matter it may, perhaps, pass through into a reservoir, or else run over the seat, whichever may chance to happen. 3122. Is there any system of scavengering and cleansing by proper authority ?—No; it is most grossly neglected, 3123. Does the health of the inhabitants suffer in consequence of the want of draining and cleansing, and the neglect of sanitary regu- lations, in that district ?—Most unquestionably ; and it is easily prov- able. 3124. Docs fever prevail in that district to any extent?—Yes ; I do not speak of the immediate district, but right and left about it. I have had two most terrible cases of disease in that court lately. 3125. Arc there any othei courts in the vicinity which, though not 80 much neglected as that, are somewhat in a similar state Yes : Clement's-lane is a sample of filth and abomination.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22271260_0005.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
