Sanitary inquiry : - England. : Local reports on the sanitary condition of the labouring population of England, in consequence of an inquiry directed to be made by the Poor Law Commissioners. Presented to both Houses of Parliament, by command of Her Majesty, July, 1842.

  • Great Britain. Poor Law Commissioners.
Date:
1842
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sanitary inquiry : - England. : Local reports on the sanitary condition of the labouring population of England, in consequence of an inquiry directed to be made by the Poor Law Commissioners. Presented to both Houses of Parliament, by command of Her Majesty, July, 1842. 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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    With respect to drainage, I presume it must not only have a very material eft'ect upon the bodily health, but upon the mind also. I remember some years ago, a medical man of considerable practice at York told me that a village in that neighbourhood was remarkable for the number of idiot children it contained. It was suggested that it should be drained, as the peculiarity might arise from its swampy nature. This was done, and along with it idiocy was banished. No. 3.^—Extract from letter, dated January 15th, 1841, from George Brown, Esq., clerk of the guardians of the Teesdale union:— In reply to your letter of the 9th instant, touching supply of water and other sanitary matters, I beg to state that to convey water into the houses of cottagers in pipes is expensive; and in some localities, from want of level and other requisites, impracticable with- out force-pum])S on a large and costly scale. The cottagers are, moreover, very generally careless; and the pipes and other apparatus would soon be suffered to become obstructed, or otherwise injured or rendered useless. The old system of public pumps is, after all, the best and most useful plan; and in legislating, it should be provided that there should be at least one common pump for every dozen houses—to be kept in repair at the joint expense of the owners of those houses; or the guardians of every union, or other pubhc func- tionaries, should in every district be compelled, out of some general parochial fund, to provide pumps or other means for the supply of water, on a scale proportioned to the number of inhabitants. I apprehend that there is now no fund out of which our town's pumps and other public reservoirs of water can lawfully be repaired : this is a serious evil, and ought forthwith to be remedied. No. 4.—Extract from letter, dated February 3rd, 1841, from Thomas Reed, Esq., one of the aldermen of the borough, and late vice-chairman of the Sunderland union :— I believe Sunderland South (that is, Sunderland and Bishop VVearmouth) is better supplied with water than most places ; there having been, from time immemorial, numerous wells in the parish of Sunderland whence the public has been supplied with excellent water at a very moderate rate; and, in addition to these, a water-company was formed a few years ago in Bishop Wearmouth which supplies the two parishes, both by means of private pipes and by pants placed in various parts. Tlie water from the water-works is also very good, and is sold to persons buying small quantities at one farthing per skeel—a measure which you may know from your long experience in theJ^orth, and which is, l'believe, calculated to hold four gallons; but, from the difficulty of carrying it full, has seldom more than three put into it. At the pumps m Sunderland the same price is charged. At Monk Wearmouth, however, the supply is very bad : there were formerly pants or pumps in the town, whence the public was supplied, but when Messrs. Pemberton's pit was won, the water was drained from the pants, and the only supply now is from a well about half a mile from Monk Wearmouth, on the Newcastle turnpike, and is supplied at one halfpenny per skeel—the extra charge is no doubt for carriage, as the water on tlie Monk Wearmouth side is conveyed to the con-