Mr. John Rayner, medical officer of the Stockport union, gives the following account of the lodging-houses in that town:—
“The lodging-houses in these districts, which are principally occupied by the Irish labourers, are for the most part very much crowded, and are in a remarkably filthy states. The beds and bedding are not only loathsome to the sight but are extremely offensive to the smell, and are so closely packed that several families may occupy the same room, each bed containing several persons. In such places the married and single often repose together, and the beds are so arranged, that in some instances there is not room for a person to walk between them. I have seen seven persons in the same bed, and last week removed to the infirmary a case of rheumatic fever, with translation of the disease to the heart, from a bed which every night contains eight persons. I have generally found that the lower order of Irish labourers occupy the most filthy districts, and that wherever they colonize, misery and wretchedness is sure to abound. They are the most common applicants for medical relief at our charity.”
“I lately had a case of inflammation of the absorbments of the legs, from a trifling injury to the foot, in an Irish boy, who was living in a dark, damp cellar, about four yards square, in which were two beds. The height of the ceiling was not more than six feet, and yet seven persons laid in it, together with a few rabbits. One of the beds had to be removed from the wall on account of its extreme dampness, and so dark was the dwelling at mid-day, that I had to make use of a candle whilst inspecting him.”
The following is the description of the lodging-houses at the next stage, by the relieving officer of the Macclesfield union:—
Mr. James Bland, medical officer of the Macclesfield union,—
“I beg to observe that the lodging-houses are a fruitful source of fever. The persons renting these tenements showed greater resistance than others in having their houses properly whitewashed at the time the epidemic cholera appeared. The vagrants who visit these houses are frequently attacked with fever: exposed during the day to the inclemency of the seasons, with their imperfect covering, ragged clothes, and naked feet, at night thrust into a room perhaps of 16 or 20 square yards, having perhaps five or six beds and three individuals in a bed, married and single, male and female, to all appearance indiscriminately lodged. When a case of illness occurs, the lodging-house keeper is most importunate and clamorous in demanding relief from the town; and when obtained, it is quite a question whether it will really be applied to the wants of the sufferer. I have never any confidence that the remedies given will be administered to the patient.”
The further stages of the lodging-houses on the northern roads are thus described in the reports:—
Mr. Nicholas Oliver, the medical officer of Durham, thus describes the lodging-houses in that town:—
“One fruitful source of generating and propagating contagious diseases is to be found in those common lodging-houses where vagrants and mendicants, or any one whatever, whether healthy or diseased, are for a trifling sum provided with lodgings. I have known 40 persons half clothed, lodged in one of those wretched dwellings, three or four lying in one bed upon straw, and only a single counterpane to cover them, which is never changed. Excrementitious matter was allowed to accumulate and be about the rooms in all directions, the stench being most revolting. In the beginning of summer fever of a typhoid type occurred in this house and affected a number of the inmates, but being in the other district, they came under the care of the other medical attendant.”
The medical officer of the Teesdale union gives the following description of the houses in that stage:—