Report on Church Lane and Carrier Street, St Giles' / By Mr Edward Gotto. 15th June, 1849.

  • London (England). Metropolitan Commission of Sewers.
Date:
[1849]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on Church Lane and Carrier Street, St Giles' / By Mr Edward Gotto. 15th June, 1849. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    having been destroyed, the consequent crowded state of this spot is scarcely credible. Its condition is said by a complainant to be “ unparalleled in London, and a per¬ fect disgrace to any civilized community.”* I regret that a personal examination of every house enables me to corroborate this testimony; but while the most fearful degradation of the human character is here exhibited, there apparently exists an universal sense of their sanatory danger, and a sincere desire for relief; interest and gratitude are expressed on every hand at even the prospect of being placed under circumstances affording the opportunity of cultivating cleanliness, comfort, and privacy, of which they are now wholly deprived. This place has attracted public attention for many years, and from time to time the public journals have exhibited the dreadful state of misery prevalent here. Much might be said of the inconveniences and insufficient accommodation under which the multitudes suffer who are obliged to occupy these houses; for common necessaries of health, water supply, and the use of privies, they have to pay indirectly by excessive prices on articles of consumption, which are sold at the places where these are to be obtained. These pumps and necessaries are generally locked up after a certain hour in the morning. Many of the houses originally had privies, but they have been destroyed by the sub-landlords for the purpose of avoid¬ ing the enormous periodical cost of emptying the cesspools. An obvious conse¬ quence of this scarcity of convenience is, that the surface channels of the streets, passages, and courts are the receptacles for refuse and excreta, and the occasional sweeping in the middle of the day produces the most prejudicial effect upon the atmosphere. And as long as such evils are allowed to continue, no im¬ provement in the health or morality can be expected, but they must and do mani¬ festly produce a lowering in the standard of human character, and it is in such places that the powers of this Commission may be exercised with the certainty of fulfilling the benevolent objects of the Legislature; namely, the physical, social, and moral welfare of the people in general, and especially of the lower classes. Not only are the poorer classes sensible of the deprivation and distress arising from defective water supply and drainage under which they suffer, but they are alive to the economy of such arrangements as are contemplated by the Metropolitan Sewer Act. It is gratifying to find in a few rare instances that efforts are made at cleanliness as far as the opportunity is afforded, and important to observe that where any success has been attained, the parties have by stratagem or other means procured the exclu¬ sive use of the necessary to themselves under the security of a padlock. It was with some degree of pride these places were opened for my inspection ; and from observation, I am of opinion that there is no class of persons degraded so low as not * Complaint Book 2, vol. ii, fol. 22, No. 1855.