CHAPTER XI.

THE AFTERGLOW.

It was at this time that the Prince Consort died, and England was full of mourning. Lord Shaftesbury speaks, in his diary of December 16, 1861, of that national loss, and then alludes to the death of my grandfather in these words:--

"I hear, too, that my valued friend and coadjutor in efforts for the sanitary improvement of England is gone--the learned, warm-hearted, highly-gifted Southwood Smith."

But the work he had set on foot and the principles he had established did not end with his life. They have gone on with an ever-increasing vitality to this day.

The efforts he made for the non-employment of women and young children in mines have resulted in the entire cessation of the practice; while his work for the provision of proper schooling for factory children has culminated now in a whole system of workhouse and factory supervision and in the school-board system throughout the land.

Intramural burial is virtually at an end. And the "Home Hospitals" and "Nursing Homes," which are established in all our large towns, are the successors of that "Sanatorium, or Home in Sickness," which he devised, and for which Charles Dickens pleaded in its early days.

The marshy Bethnal Green and Spitalfields, where he first visited the individual homes, and which he took Lord Normanby and Lord Ashley to see, are now comparatively healthy places. He found them without water; there is now water laid on to every house. He found them without drainage; now a complete and scientific system of drainage exists throughout the metropolis. The "£7,000,000 of public money spent on sanitary reform," over which he rejoiced so greatly, is, since he spoke in 1857, increased by all the millions spent on such works in the last forty years.

His first set of "Model Dwellings," in the St Pancras Road, is now multiplied by the countless blocks of such in all the large towns of England. Sanitary Law and Sanitary Inspection everywhere prevail, and the thousands of lives annually saved--the lowered death-rate both in town and country--attests the power of the laws he was one of the first to perceive and proclaim.

To show the saving of life in London alone, the death-rate in the early "forties" was 26 in the thousand, it is now 19; whilst in the Model Dwellings the improvement is even more striking, since there it is not more than half that of London at large. To show how completely the experiment he made to prove the possible healthfulness of such dwellings has answered, it is only necessary to quote the figures given in the report just issued for this fifty-third year of the Society which he founded.

"The rate of mortality," we learn, "in the Dwellings of the Association, was 9·64 per 1000, including 12 deaths which occurred in hospitals, infirmaries, &c. In the entire metropolis the rate was 18·2 per 1000. As regards infant mortality, the deaths under one year of age were at the rate of 79 in every 1000 births; and in the entire metropolis, at the rate of 161 per 1000 births."

Allusion has been made to the bust which was executed as a tribute to the public services of my grandfather by those whom we have called the Pioneers of Sanitary Reform--Lord Normanby, Lord Shaftesbury, Lord Carlisle (formerly Lord Morpeth), Charles Dickens, Mr Slaney, and others. This bust is now in the National Portrait Gallery, and accompanying it are the following lines by Leigh Hunt, which proclaim the services of his life in the cause of the poor to wider circles still:--

"Ages shall honour, in their hearts enshrined, Thee, Southwood Smith, Physician of Mankind; Bringer of Air, Light, Health into the Home Of the rich Poor of happier times to come!"

APPENDIX

APPENDIX I.

LETTER FROM MR TAYLOR, ASSISTANT RETURNING OFFICER OF THE WHITECHAPEL UNION, TO DR SOUTHWOOD SMITH; written at the request of the latter, for Lord Ashley's use, after their personal inspection of Bethnal Green and Whitechapel.

289 BETHNAL GREEN ROAD, _Feb. 5, 1842_.

MY DEAR DOCTOR,--Lord Ashley, the Honorable Mr Ashley, and yourself visited the following places with me. I have arranged them in the form of a table: in one column is the name of the street, and, opposite, a brief notice of its condition, with an occasional remark by which his Lordship may recognise it.

Apologising for the length of time that has elapsed since I promised to forward this account to you, I remain, dear Doctor, Your Obedient Servant,

T. TAYLOR.

_First Visit._

Back of Chester Place. Open ditch and several pigsties.

Pitt Street. A wretched road, no drainage. Hon. Mr Ashley spoke to one of the inhabitants respecting the state of the road.

Burnham Square. Houses built on undrained ground.

Grosvenor Street, Bonner Street. Undrained houses on one side not supplied with water (all the houses on this estate, to the amount of about 200 or more, in the same condition, the inhabitants having to go to a distant pump or beg of their neighbours, who have had it laid on at their own expense, and who for giving it are liable to punishment). Bonner Street has an open ditch in front of part of it.

Pleasant Place. Road a perfect quagmire.

Green Street. Stagnant water on southern side and also on part of the northern.

Baker Street, Digby Street. Houses back to back, consisting of two rooms, each one above the other. Privies close to windows of lower rooms. Baker's night-yard is in this street.

James Street. Another night-yard.

Bethnal Green Road (eastern end). No drainage, many of the houses having 10 inches to 2 feet of water in the cellars, which are from 3 feet to 3 feet 8 inches only below the level of the road.

Sanderson's Gardens. Houses on each side below the level of the pathway, which has a gutter in the middle. (Lord Ashley spoke to one of the inhabitants of this place.)

Pitt Street, Bethnal Green Road. A narrow street with only surface drainage. (Fever was very prevalent here.)

Cambden Gardens. Houses built on the soil, many of them not being larger than an 8-feet cube, are inhabited.

Lamb's Fields. An acre at least of complete marsh and three open ditches--one on the north, another in the middle, and the third to the eastern side close to the backs of the houses in North Street.

London Street. Undrained.

Rupia Lane. Two open ditches.

Ann's Place. Open sewer in front of some of the houses.

Houses at the back of Ann's Place. The open sewer from Ann's Place passes beneath one of the houses and then is again open to the houses at the back, but is boarded in so that Lord Ashley had to mount a boundary stone to obtain the view of it.

A group of streets to the north of Slacky Road. All the houses stained with damp to a height varying from 1 to 2 or more feet.

Warmer Place. An open sewer in front of the houses giving off bubbles of gas very freely.

Wellington Pond. A large piece of water into which the above sewer drains--gives off constantly innumerable bubbles of gas, and the stench is sometimes abominable. Persons who have accidentally fallen into it, though taken out immediately, have all died.

A thoroughfare leading from bottom of Pollards Row to Wellington Row. The lucifer match manufactory faces this road, into which we all went. An open ditch in the most filthy condition.

Squirries Street. Green stagnant water on each side.

Wellington Row. Lower rooms all damp. An open ditch in front. Western end soft mud, into which the wheels of a waggon sank 14 or 15 inches as it passed.

North Street and some of the houses at the back. Lord Ashley saw the landlord of some of them.

Waterloo Town (several streets). All undrained, but part of Manchester Street and Albion Street. Many variations of level of several feet at a distance of a few yards only, as Manchester Place, Derbyshire Street, Sale Street. Many of the houses back to back and consisting of five ground-floor rooms only.

_Second Visit._

George Street. A centre gutter full of stagnant water.

Old Bethnal Green Road. Has had a sewer made recently, but houses do not communicate with it.

Clare Street, Felix Street, Centre Street, Cambridge Circus, Minerva Street, Matilda Street, Hope Street, Temple Street, Charles Street, Charlotte Street, Durham Street. All built on undrained ground, and the houses affected with damp.

Court opposite to Cambridge Road. One privy to several houses, and mosses growing on the damp brick of the houses to the height of 4 or 5 feet from the ground.

Nova Scotia Gardens. Several feet below the road in many parts, the drainage of which it receives. (Here lived the burkers of the Italian boy.)

Virginia Row, York Street, and the streets to the east. Undrained, having stagnant water in them.

Rose Court. Most wretched hovels.

Typen Street. (Where the child was burnt.)

Satchwell Rents. The privies form part of the ground-floor of these houses. Lord Ashley inspected the first house; _no_ yards.

Mount Street. Level of the houses very uneven; many below the level of the road. The undrained portion of this street suffered from fever to an awful extent, while the high and drained part had scarcely a case.

Courts out of Mount Street. Dung-heap in one. Lord Ashley saw the landlord of another and spoke to him.

Collingwood Street. Houses on one side much lower than on the other; very badly drained, and not a healthy-looking person or child in the street.

APPENDIX II.

RECOGNITION OF THE PUBLIC SERVICES OF DR SOUTHWOOD SMITH.

At a Meeting held at the residence of the Earl of Shaftesbury on the 7th of May 1856

IT WAS RESOLVED

That this Meeting, deeply impressed with the untiring and successful labours of Dr Southwood Smith in the cause of social amelioration, and specially recognising the value of these labours in the great cause of

SANITARY IMPROVEMENT,

are anxious to tender him some mark of their personal esteem. That accordingly a bust of Dr Southwood Smith be executed in marble, and presented to some suitable institution, as an enduring memorial of his eminent services in the promotion of the Public Health.

_The following is a List of the Subscribers_:--

Viscount Palmerston, K.G., G.C.B., First Lord of the Treasury.

The Earl of Carlisle, K.G., Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

The Earl of Harrowby, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

The Marquis of Lansdowne, K.G.

The Marquis of Normanby, K.G., G.C.B., Ambassador at Florence.

The Right Honourable W. F. Cowper, M.P., President of the Board of Health.

Thomas Graham, Esq., F.R.S., Master of the Mint.

The Duke of Buccleuch.

The Duke of Newcastle.

The Earl of Ellesmere.

The Earl Fortescue, K.G.

The Earl of St Germans.

The Earl of Harrington.

The Earl of Shaftesbury.

The Lord Bishop of London.

The Lord Bishop of St Asaph.

The Lord Bishop of Ripon.

The Lord Brougham and Vaux.

The Viscount Ebrington, M.P.

The Viscount Goderich, M.P.

The Lord Robert Grosvenor, M.P.

The Lord Claude Hamilton, M.P.

The Lord Stanley of Bickerstaffe, M.P.

The Honourable A. Kinnaird, M.P.

Sir Edward Borough, Bart.

Sir E. N. Buxton, Bart.

The Rev. Sir H. Dukinfield, Bart.

Sir John Easthope, Bart.

Sir Ralph Howard, Bart.

Sir Samuel Morton Peto, Bart.

Sir John Ramsden, Bart.

Sir Erskine Perry, Q.C., M.P.

The Lord Mayor.

The Dean of Ely.

Henry Austin, Esq.

B. G. Babington, Esq., M.D.

Thomas Baker, Esq.

Joseph Bateman, Esq., LL.D.

John Batten, Esq.

G. Beaman, Esq., M.D.

Thomas Bell, Esq., F.R.S.

Joseph Brotherton, Esq., M.P.

Alexander Browne, Esq., M.D.

A. Collyer, Esq.

The Rev. J. Cumming, D.D.

The Rev. R. S. Daniell, M.A.

Charles Dickens, Esq.

John Dillon, Esq.

William Farr, Esq., M.D.

Arthur Farre, Esq., M.D.

John Finlaison, Esq.

C. Gatliff, Esq.

F. D. Goldsmid, Esq.

R. D. Grainger, Esq., F.R.S.

Samuel Gurney, Esq.

J. F. Hart, Esq.

A. Hassall, Esq., M.D.

James Heywood, Esq., M.P.

Rowland Hill, Esq.

M. D. Hill, Esq., Q.C.

F. Hill, Esq.

A. Hill, Esq.

E. Hill, Esq.

Gurney Hoare, Esq.

P. H. Holland, Esq.

T. Jones Howell, Esq.

The Rev. Charles Hume, M.A.

R. W. Kennard, Esq.

Duncan M'Laren, Esq.

J. Leslie, Esq.

Waller Lewis, Esq., M.B., F.G.S.

C. Z. Macaulay, Esq.

J. J. Mechi, Esq.

R. Monckton Milnes, Esq., M.P.

Gavin Milroy, Esq., M.D.

James Morrison, Esq.

Professor Owen, F.R.S.

Tucker Radford, Esq., M.D.

Robert Rawlinson, Esq.

J. A. Roebuck, Esq., M.P.

W. Rogers, Esq.

S. S. Scriven, Esq.

R. A. Slaney, Esq., M.P.

J. J. Smith, Esq.

James Startin, Esq.

John Sutherland, Esq., M.D.

Thomas Thornely, Esq., M.P.

John Thwaites, Esq.

J. W. Tottie, Esq.

Thomas Tooke, Esq., F.R.S.

E. Westall, Esq.

It will be seen that a very large number of the names on this list are those of men who had personally worked with my grandfather or had watched and helped as labourers in the Sanitary cause from the beginning.--G. L.

INDEX.

Ashley, Lord, visits Bethnal Green and Whitechapel with Dr Southwood Smith, 70-- his Bill relating to child labour in mines passed, 75.

Bentham, Jeremy, death of, 43-- Dr Southwood Smith delivers oration on, 45.

"Body-snatching," agitation in connection with, 36.

Bristol, Dr Southwood Smith educated at Baptist College in, 7.

"Broadmead Benefaction," Dr Southwood Smith holds the, 7.

Brougham, Lord, letter from, 133.

Chadwick, Mr Edwin, member of Factory Commission, 53-- reports on the sanitary condition of the labouring population, 105.

Children, employment of, in factories, 49 _et seq._

"Children's Employment Commission," Dr Southwood Smith a member of, 73-- report by, _ib._-- report on "Trades and Manufactures," 76.

Cholera, house-to-house visitation as a preventive cure of, 132, 133.

Christie, Miss Mary, marriage of Dr Southwood Smith to, 16.

Dickens, Charles, speech by, 82-- joins in performance for the benefit of "The Sanatorium," 84-- letters from, 85, 86, 87, 89, 90, 91-- letter to, 88.

Edinburgh, Dr Southwood Smith enters University as medical student, 9-- lectures in Philosophical Institution, 141.

Education, article on, 36.

"Epidemics," lecture on, 141.

Factories, need for reform in, 49 _et seq._-- Factory Commission appointed, 53-- report by, 54 _et seq._-- Factory Act, 1833, passed, 57-- return showing working of educational provisions of Act, 58.

'Factory System, The Curse of the,' by M. Fielden, M.P., quoted, 51.

"General Board of Health," Dr Southwood Smith appointed to, 127-- work on, 132 _et seq._-- report on "A General Scheme for Extramural Sepulture," 133-- Board discontinued, 136.

Gillies, Mr, Dr Southwood Smith becomes acquainted with, 48.

Haliburton, Hon. D. G., letter to, 15

"Health of Towns Association," 98-- founding of, 107.

"Health of Towns Commission," 105.

Highgate, Dr Southwood Smith's home at, 94 _et seq._

'Illustrations of the Divine Government,' publication of, 12-- fourth edition of, 13-- quotation from preface to, _ib._

Inglis, Sir Robert Harry, M. P., quoted, 99.

Italy, travels in, 147, 148.

Jeffrey, Lord, quoted, 33.

Kentish Town, life at, 3 _et seq._

Lincoln, Lord, introduces a Sanitary Reform Bill, 110.

London, Bishop of, moves in House of Lords for extension of Poor Law Board inquiries, 71.

London, Dr Southwood Smith removes to, 16-- report on eastern districts of, 61 _et seq._

Maclean, Dr, referred to, 18.

Martock, Dr Southwood Smith born at, 7.

"Metropolitan Association for Improving the Dwellings of the Industrious Classes," founding of, 93.

"Metropolitan Sanitary Commission" appointed, 122.

Mines, child labour in, 73.

"Model Dwellings," building of first, 94.

Morpeth, Lord, quoted, 100-- brings forward Bill for "Improving the Health of Towns in England," 122 _et seq._-- letter to, 128.

Normanby, Marquis of, visits Bethnal Green and Whitechapel with Dr Southwood Smith, 69-- referred to, 100-- his "Drainage of Buildings Bill," 104.

'Origin and Progress of Sanitary Reform,' by T. Jones Howell, quoted, 32.

Palmerston, Viscount, letter from, 137.

'Penny Encyclopædia,' Dr Southwood Smith contributes to, 36.

'Philosophy of Health, The,' 47-- revision of, 140.

Procter, Adelaide, quotation from, 150.

Public Health Act, 1848, passed, 126.

"Quarantine Laws," articles on, 31.

Read, Miss Anne, attachment of Dr Southwood Smith to, 8-- marriage of, 9-- death of, _ib._

Recognition of public services of Dr Southwood Smith, 143, 162.

"Report on the Physical Causes of Sickness and Mortality," &c., 61-- extracts from, _ib._ _et seq._

"Report on the Prevalence of Fever in Twenty Metropolitan Unions in 1838," 68.

'Results of Sanitary Improvement,' publication of, 141.

Ryland, Dr, reference to, 8.

Sanatorium, founding of the, 81.

Sanitary Reform, Dr Southwood Smith's first writings on, 17-- beginning of the movement for, 60 _et seq._-- struggle for, 102 _et seq._-- Parliamentary Committee appointed, 103-- Mr Chadwick's report, 105-- "Health of Towns Commission," _ib._-- "Public Health Act, 1848," passed, 126.

Shaftesbury, Lord, letter from, 142-- quotation from diary of, 153.

Slaney, Mr, M.P., quoted, 99-- obtains committee to inquire into sanitary state of large towns in England, 103.

Smith, Caroline Southwood, 9.

Smith, Emily Southwood, 9.

Smith, Dr Thomas Southwood, author's recollections of, 1 _et seq._-- birth and early years, 7-- his education and preparation for the ministry, _ib._-- cast off by his family on account of religious views, 8-- attachment to Miss Anne Read, _ib._-- marriage, 9-- death of his wife, _ib._-- decides to study medicine and enters Edinburgh University, _ib._-- conducts religious services in Edinburgh, 10-- writes his 'Illustrations of the Divine Government,' 12-- starts practice at Yeovil, 14-- removes to London, 16-- second marriage, _ib._-- appointed physician to the London Fever Hospital, the Eastern Dispensary, and the Jews' Hospital, _ib._-- his first writings on the "Sanitary Question," 17-- publishes his 'Treatise on Fever,' 24-- house at Trinity Square broken up, 35-- contributes to the 'Penny Encyclopædia,' 36-- assists in founding the 'Westminster Review,' _ib._-- publishes pamphlet on 'The Use of the Dead to the Living,' 40-- lectures at Webb Street School of Anatomy, 42-- delivers popular lectures at London Institution and elsewhere, 43-- his oration on Jeremy Bentham, 46-- publishes 'The Philosophy of Health,' 47-- appointed to the Factory Commission, 53-- reports to the Poor Law Commissioners on eastern districts of London, 61-- member of "Children's Employment Commission," 73-- assists in founding "The Sanatorium," 81-- correspondence with Charles Dickens, 85 _et seq._-- forms the "Metropolitan Association for Improving the Dwellings of the Industrious Classes," 93-- removes to Highgate, 94-- founds the "Health of Towns Association," 98, 107-- his efforts on behalf of Sanitary Reform, 102 _et seq._-- issues an "Address to the Working Classes," 111-- is appointed member of the "Metropolitan Sanitary Commission," 122-- appointed to General Board of Health, 127-- letter to Lord Morpeth, 128-- retires from public life, 139-- revises 'The Philosophy of Health,' 140-- writes pamphlet on 'Results of Sanitary Improvement,' 141-- lectures on "Epidemics" at Edinburgh, _ib._-- receives public recognition of his services, 143-- travels in Italy, 147-- death of his wife, 148-- returns to Italy, _ib._-- death, _ib._

Taylor, Mr, letter from, 157.

Tooke, Mr, member of Factory Commission, 53.

'Treatise on Fever,' publication of, 24-- opinion of 'The Medico-Chirurgical Review' on, _ib._-- quotations from, 25 _et seq._, 30.

'Use of the Dead to the Living, The,' 40.

'Westminster Review,' Dr Southwood Smith's contributions to, 17-- founding of, 36.

Workhouses, Dr Southwood Smith draws attention to state of, 66.

Yeovil, Dr Southwood Smith begins practice and takes charge of congregation at, 14-- leaves for London, 16.

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