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

by Edwin Chadwick

LIST OF PLATES.

Map, exhibiting the track of fever and cholera, and the badly-cleansed portions of the town of Leeds	[160]
Map, exhibiting the numbers and places of death from epidemic and other diseases affected by locality, in the parish of Bethnal Green, during one year	[160]
Linear representation of the comparative numbers and progress of deaths from consumption, from epidemics, and other classes of disease, in the metropolis, during the two years ended the 1st of January, 1842	[167]
Plans and views of habitations for the labouring classes	[266]
Group of Northumberland cottages, copied from a view given by Dr. Gilly, canon of Durham;—Group of cottages at Harlaxton, erected by Gregory Gregory, Esq.;—Plans and elevations of cottages, erected by the Rev. Benyon de Beauvoir, at Culford, Suffolk;—Plans of labourers’ cottages, erected by the Earl of Leicester, at Holkham; by the Earl of Roseberry in Scotland;—Plan of a new form of labourers’ cottages, erected by Sir Stewart Monteath, at Closeburn;—Plan of labourers’ cottages, erected by Messrs. H. and E. Ashworth, at Turton; by S. Greg, Esq., at Bollington.
Plan, by Mr. Sydney Smirke, of lodging-houses for workmen in towns	[274]
Section of the chief forms of sewers used in the metropolis	[378]
Plan of the arrangement of the future increment of towns for the protection of the sanitary condition and convenience of the population, by Captain Vetch, of the Royal Engineers	[384]
General plan of house and street sewerage, and of the construction of streets favourable to cleansing and dryness, by Captain Vetch	[389]
Isometrical view of a model agricultural labourer’s cottage, by Mr. Loudon	[396]
Isometrical view of a mechanic’s model double cottage, by Mr. Loudon	[398]
Furniture of cottages: plans of construction of beds and windows	[399]
Plans and elevations of labourers’ cottages erected by the Messrs. H. and E. Ashworth;—Plans and elevations of houses in Birmingham	[402]
Plan for the arrangement of public walks in restricted space in towns, as shown in the arrangement of the Arboretum, in Derby, by Mr. Loudon	[406]

REPORT
ON THE
SANITARY CONDITION OF THE LABOURING POPULATION,
AND ON
THE MEANS OF ITS IMPROVEMENT.

London, May, 1842.

Gentlemen,—Since my special attention was directed to the inquiry as to the chief removable circumstances affecting the health of the poorer classes of the population, I have availed myself of every opportunity to collect information respecting them. In company with Dr. Arnott I visited Edinburgh and Glasgow, and inspected those residences that were pointed out by the local authorities as the chief seats of disease. I also visited Dumfries. An inspection of similar districts in Spitalfields, Manchester, Leeds, and Macclesfield, and inquiries formerly made under the Commission of Poor Law Inquiry, and inspections of the condition of the residences of the poorer classes in parts of Berkshire, Sussex, and Hertfordshire, had supplied me with means of comparison. Abandoning any inquiries as to remedies, strictly so called, or the treatment of diseases after their appearance, I have directed the examinations of witnesses and the reports of medical officers chiefly to collect information of the best means available as preventives of the evils in question. On the documentary evidence of the medical officers, and on the examinations of witnesses, aided by personal inspections, I have the honour to report as follows:—

Partial descriptions of the condition of the labouring classes, in respect to their residences and the habits which influence their health, afford but a faint conception of the evils which are the subject of inquiry. If only particular instances, or some groups of individual cases be adduced, the erroneous impression might be created that they were cases of comparatively infrequent occurrence. But the following tabular return made up from the registration of the causes of death in England and Wales, which is the most complete yet attained, will give a sufficiently correct conception of the extent of the evils in question, when illustrated by the evidence of eye-witnesses, the medical officers whose duty it has been to attend on the spot and alleviate them. The table comprehends the abstract of the returns of the deaths from the chief diseases, which the medical officers consider to be the most powerfully influenced by the physical circumstances under which the population is placed—as the external and internal condition of their dwellings, drainage, and ventilation.

To the Poor Law Commissioners.

Deaths in Counties from Diseases governed by Locality.
COUNTIES.	Number of Deaths during the Year ended 31st December, 1838 from										Proportion of Deaths from the preceding Causes in every 1000 of the Population, 1841.	Proportion of Deaths from all Causes of Mortality in every 1000 of the Population, 1841.
	1 Epidemic, Endemic, and Contagious Diseases.				2 Diseases of Respiratory Organs			3 Diseases of Brain Nerves and Senses.	4 Diseases of Digestive Organs	Total Deaths from the four preceding Classes of Diseases.
	Fever: Typhus, Scarlatina.	Small-pox.	Measles.	Hooping Cough.	Consumption.	Pneumonia.	All other Classes.
England.
Bedford	155	75	40	66	457	97	57	304	131	1382	13	22
Berks	204	288	21	86	739	231	162	467	201	2399	15	25
Bucks	256	85	61	27	575	131	61	348	152	1696	11	19
Cambridge	231	136	57	90	686	156	70	318	189	1933	12	21
Chester	592	279	178	87	1742	366	345	1442	421	5452	14	21
Cornwall	443	135	168	491	1270	342	124	631	228	3832	11	18
Cumberland	165	188	11	83	562	75	142	278	169	1673	9	21
Derby	394	77	79	71	905	200	205	777	268	2976	11	18
Devon	615	460	287	312	1649	564	298	1237	471	5893	11	18
Dorset	137	255	80	58	571	146	106	380	159	1892	11	19
Durham	347	316	139	304	1007	362	207	1138	274	4094	13	21
Essex	417	460	83	163	1250	276	234	782	268	3933	11	19
Gloucester	352	457	440	244	1395	578	476	1142	510	5594	13	20
Hereford	84	83	17	36	333	56	57	238	62	966	8	18
Hertford	160	116	45	48	620	107	90	453	155	1794	11	20
Huntingdon	61	18	1	17	216	45	42	140	72	612	10	18
Kent	955	510	169	214	1701	564	526	1650	651	6940	13	21
Lancaster	2866	1628	898	910	8124	2660	1916	7457	3231	29690	18	25
Leicester	273	98	17	70	941	243	154	668	314	2778	13	21
Lincoln	370	138	29	88	874	248	242	1090	358	3437	9	17
Middlesex	4422	3359	487	1749	6220	3097	2334	6643	2492	30803	20	27
Monmouth	328	321	49	91	481	183	78	550	100	2181	16	24
Norfolk	515	126	63	109	1388	325	281	793	395	3995	10	19
Northamptn	348	148	36	36	762	192	124	503	212	2361	12	21
Northumbd	366	149	46	113	715	287	240	709	388	3013	12	21
Nottingham	222	73	18	80	911	225	201	901	287	2918	12	20
Oxford	222	81	51	59	655	108	152	389	180	1897	12	21
Rutland	11	2		13	64	14	8	56	28	196	9	17
Salop	213	154	112	138	995	242	168	550	284	2856	12	21
Somerset	560	710	401	46	1446	426	373	982	473	5417	12	21
Southamptn	454	164	78	148	1222	338	331	881	372	3988	17	19
Stafford	610	249	182	268	1809	539	419	1251	597	5924	12	18
Suffolk	480	325	53	158	1306	315	184	538	275	3634	12	20
Surrey	1348	814	177	565	2196	978	700	2325	763	9866	11	25
Sussex	391	80	159	88	1047	222	181	863	295	3326	11	18
Warwick	454	415	153	164	1495	678	361	978	638	5336	13	20
Westmoreld	41	40	6	41	248	33	44	154	46	653	12	21
Wilts	246	259	263	140	869	268	212	606	241	3104	12	20
Worcester	381	305	122	258	990	353	235	645	446	3735	16	29
York, E. R.	194	92	167	149	725	194	176	1009	251	2957	13	21
York, N. R.	123	28	69	114	550	102	135	553	1861		9	17
York, W. R.	1298	993	799	507	4253	1202	848	4374	1494	15768	14	21
Wales.
North.	660	575	4	210	1227	102	223	1311	198	4510	13	18
South.	1613	1004	199	398	1834	129	277	1200	380	7034	14	21
Total, 1838	24,577	16,268	6514	9107	59,025	17,999	13,799	49,704	19,306	216,299	14	22
Total, 1839	25,991	9131	10,937	8165	59,559	18,151	12,855	49,215	20,767	214,771	14	21