Report to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State For the Home Department, from the Poor Law Commissioners, on an Inquiry Into the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain; With Appendices

Proprietors of large spaces of ground, or a combination of small ones, might also claim and be authorized to form and execute their own plans, provided always that they were pre...

This use of irrigation followed so gradually, that the time of its commencement seems not accurately ascertained, but is known to have been usual near the beginning of the prese...

The following figures, 1, 2, are representations of the sewers in the Holborn and Finsbury division of the metropolis, on the same scale as the above. The part in which the join...

I beg leave further to suggest, that the principles of amendment deduced from the inquiry will be found as applicable to Scotland as to England; and if so, it may be submitted f...

It is found to be difficult to trace the individuals of a population so removed, and the inquiries on the subject are incomplete; but they tend to show that the working people m...

During which time the public are subjected to all the escapes of gas from the decomposing accumulation?—Exactly so. It could not, however go on so long but for heavy falls of ra...

Then with respect to this particular class, notwithstanding their earning wages twice as much as agricultural labourers earn probably, and which agricultural labourers save mone...

“In the Glasgow Fever Hospital there occurred 81 deaths from eruptive typhus in individuals whose habits were ascertained, and 34 of these were reported as intemperate, 19 a lit...

The following report from one of the superintendents to the Commissioners of the Metropolitan Police describes the manner in which they appear to the police, their moral charact...

“The malaria alluded to arises from the decomposition of vegetable matter left upon Otmoor (a marsh of about 4000 acres), by the previous winter’s flood, and acted upon by the s...

“No man shall cast any urine-boles or ordure-boles into the street by day or night, afore the hour of nine in the night: and also he shall not cast it out, but bring it down, an...

“According to the provisions of every Turnpike Act, a great number of persons are named as trustees; the practice is to make almost every one a trustee, residing in the vicinity...

The competition frequently absorbs the profit on the funds that might be available to the competing parties (supposing them disposed to carry out any plans other than those whic...

Acting in this spirit, Parent Duchâtelet and D’Arcet carried on a minute investigation, in a vast manufactory of tobacco at Paris, containing 1,054 workmen. Not content with the...

It is said that farmers ought to take the single agricultural labourers into their houses, and preside at the labourers’ tables as formerly; what is your opinion as to the pract...

Besides these questions which relate to the quality of the bread, the council examined what mischief could arise from the use of copper scales to weigh the dough of which the br...

“The greater number of cases of fever in Tuce is in a great degree to be accounted for from the extremely filthy state of those places where it has been worst. Some of the cases...

The familiarity with the sickness and death constantly present in the crowded and unwholesome districts, appears to re-act as another concurrent, cause in aggravation of the wre...

“There is a point I deem most worthy of notice, I allude to the deficiency of spring-water. The inhabitants of Salcot Virley and Great Wigborough are compelled to drink pond-wat...

The other mode of avoiding the formation of mud is the substitution of wooden pavements; of the success of these I have little doubt, though for the present many failures have o...

An injudicious economy on this point affects most injuriously the habits of cleanliness, and consequently the health of the lower classes. Water is properly distributed when eve...

_M. Patissier._ “As they are almost constantly in a sitting posture, the body bent, with the head stooping forward, the blood is unequally distributed, and too large a quantity...

“Where gain was dependant on the growth of better habits, I have seen, with the agency of judicious individuals, encouraging cases of complete reformation: an intelligent engine...

“By the county, you mean the Holborn and Finsbury division?—Yes; everything out of the boundary of the city. In order to meet the difficulty for which there was no other cure, t...

“Have you not had amongst your own people an instance of pestilence occasioned by the neglect of removable causes of disease?—In the summer of 1839 some remarkable cases of feve...

It is not supposed that these are arrangements which can be universal, or readily made the subject of legislation. At the commencement of some manufactures, the additional outla...

“These cases (of diarrhœa and common fever) occurred in a house (formerly a poor house) occupied by nearly 50 persons on the ground-floor; the rooms are neither boarded nor pave...

On examining the individual cases of deaths that are classed as incident to the pursuit of the chief branches of mining or manufacturing industry, or in transport whether by lan...

The first expense of such a building is higher than a manufactory of the old construction; but it appeared to possess countervailing economical advantages to the capitalist, the...

Having shown the state of the existing local authority for reclaiming the execution of the law, for _causing_ that to be done “which the common good requires,” and those things...

The directors have next turned their attention to the means of economizing fuel; and a premium for the best mode of accomplishing this will be found in the list of this year. It...

“‘The system of lodging-houses for travellers, otherwise trampers, requires to be altogether revised: at present they are in the practice of lodging all the worst characters unq...

“It is impossible to give a proper representation of the wretched state of many of the inhabitants of the indigent class, situated in the confined streets called Pipewellgate an...

Of the inhabitants of Liverpool, it is ascertained that about 9500 live in cellars underground, and upwards of 9000 in back houses, which in general have an imperfect ventilatio...

The statements of the condition of considerable proportions of the labouring population of the towns into which the present inquiries have been carried have been received with s...

The prevalent impression upon such instances would be expressed by such phrases as, “If men will be so careless, there is no help for it; they must take the consequences:” but t...

The office business of two of the commissions appeared to me to be very respectably conducted. But in the structural arrangements, in only one commission do any of the works exe...

“How they lie down to rest, how they sleep, how they can preserve common decency, how unutterable horrors are avoided, is beyond all conception. The case is aggravated when ther...

“There are in the parish no less than 33 inns, and public-houses, and whisky-shops. A few inns are needed for the accommodation of travellers, and for the transaction of busines...

It will have been perceived, that the first great remedies, external arrangements, _i. e._ efficient drainage, sewerage and cleansing of towns, come within the acknowledged prov...

Baptisms. Burials. Population in 1801. 1796 to 1805 1,627 1,535 4,710 1806 to 1815 1,654 1,313 5,209 1816 to 1825 2,165 1,390 6,515

“I would take, therefore, a more attainable standard of excellence in the cottages of the Rev. E. Benyon, at Culford. This is a remarkable village of about fifty cottages, built...

“As to the question, whether the sale of the flesh of oxen that have died from the diseases just described should be allowed, the council have already shown that, from time imme...

“The lodging-houses for trampers are a prolific source of disease, and productive of enormous expense to the parish in which they may be situate; from one I have within this wee...

£. _s._ _d._ 1 Colonel 1 6 3 1 Lieutenant-colonel 0 18 1 2 Captains, at 11_s._ 1_d._ 1 2 2 2 First lieutenants, at 6_s._ 10_d._ 0 13 8 2 Second ditto, at 5_s._ 7_d._ 0 11 2 —— —...

The instances above given of the working of the provisions of the Metropolitan Police Act for the cleansing of filthy tenements are, however, instances of zealous proceedings ta...

“My attention was first directed to the sources of malaria in this district and neighbourhood when cholera became epidemic. I then partially inspected the dwellings of the poor,...

On the 14th May, 1838, the Poor Law Commissioners presented to Lord John Russell a report “relative to certain charges which have been disallowed by the auditors of unions in En...

“On ascending to the upper room by a ladder, it was seen to be a sleeping-room. The dimensions of the floor were of course the same as of the room below. There was no fire-place...

“In the 10 houses at the upper end of this street (three of which are untenanted) there has been 21 cases of continued fever. Every house, with three exceptions, has had several...

The information on the means for the prevention of epidemic disease arising in the common lodging-houses maintained for the accommodation of trampers and vagrants, might also ha...

“It cannot,” they say, “be doubted that whilst the arts and manufactures of the place prove in some instances injurious to health, and in a few possibly destructive to life, the...

I have obtained through Mr. Baker, of Leeds, who, as superintendent of factories, has had good means of making an accurate comparison, the following contrast of the results as s...

“Out of 100 deaths in the 16th century, 25·92 were children in their first year; in the 17th century, 23·72; in the 18th century, 20·12; in 1801–13, they were 16·57; and in 1814...

The medical officers will transmit to you the returns when completed, and by you they will be forwarded when the information required is obtained from all the medical officers t...

The like improvement in the public health that has followed the slow structural improvements in the best districts of the metropolis has been displayed in Paris, where some of t...

The female is most in the house; she is the most regular and temperate in her habits; the male is subject to the influence of his place of occupation—the operative to his worksh...

“Has been a tailor since he was 16 years old. Has always lived in the country. Has two sons journeymen tailors, who have been employed in London, one seven and the other five ye...

M. Quetelet’s returns show that so far as the present state of information can be relied upon, the same law is observed in general action, not only in provinces but in whole cou...

“There is no reason to doubt that instead of every second man perishing miserably within a few weeks, the rate of mortality might have been as low as that exhibited in the South...

┌───────────┬───────────────────────────────┬───────────┬───────────┐ │ │ │Proportion │Proportion │ │ │ │ of Deaths │ of Deaths │ │ │ │ from the │ from all │ │ │ │ preceding │ C...

“_Bedding._—In many gaols, and in most bridewells, there is no allowance of _bedding_ or straw for prisoners to sleep on; and if by any means they get a little, it is not change...

┌────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────────┬────────┐ │ Age. │ Females. │ Prison │ │ │ │ of │ │ │ │Salford.│ ├────────┼──────────┬──────────┬───────┬─────────┬──...

It may be of interest to observe that as the whole population grows in age, the annual increase in numbers may be deemed to be equivalent to an annual increase of numbers of the...

In Manchester, 64; in Truro union, 65; in Audley district of Newcastle-under-Lyme union, 65; in Dunmow union, 65; in Bishops Stortford union, 65; in Lexden and Winstree union, 6...

To judge of the comparative mortality amongst the average of a town population, I obtained the following returns; the one from the clerk of the Strand union, the other from the...

It is a maxim of this district that manufacturers “only improve or adopt improvements upon threadbare profits.” Under the bounty created by the just and necessary charge upon th...

┌───────┬─────────┬───────────────┬──────┬─────────┬──────────────────┐ │Initals│Number of│ Occupation of │Age at│ Years’ │Assigned Cause of │ │ of │Children │ deceased │Death.│...

6. Every cottage, including its garden, yard, &c., ought to occupy not less than one-sixth of an acre; and the garden ought to surround the cottage, or at all events to extend b...

State of the common lodging-houses in the Barnet union, 357; in Birmingham, 357; in Brighton, 358; in Manchester, 358; in the Stockport union, 360; in the Macclesfield union, 36...

┌───────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────┐ │ ENGLAND. │ │ │ │ Rent of Cottages. │ ├───────────────┼────────┬────────┬───────────┬────────┤ │ │ │ 2. │ │ │ │ │ │Cott...

The more closely the subject of the evils affecting the sanitary condition of the labouring population is investigated the more widely do their effects appear to be ramified. Th...

Though on an average from five to six men of the 170 employed are prevented from coming to their work, yet of these there are _four_ who have received support from the fund, on...