A piece on Joseph Merceron, the tyrant of Bethnal Green from 'Report from the Committee on the State of the Police of the Metropolis (1816) 510.
The Rev. Joshua King, called in, and Examined.
YOU are clergyman of the parish of Bethnal-green? — The rector of that parish.
How long have you held that situation ? — About seven years.
Do you principally reside there ?— Yes, I do, and discharge all the duties myself.
Is it a very large parish?—It consists of a population of about 40,000, generally
the lowest description of people; the overflowing population out of Spitalfields have
settled in that parish.
As clergyman of the parish, you have felt it your duty to make yourself acquainted, as far as lay in your power, with the state and condition of the Police?—Surely.
What is that? — I am sorry to say that it is most deplorable; every Sunday morning, during the time of Divine Service, several hundred persons assemble in a field adjoining the church-yard, where they fight dogs, hunt ducks, gamble, enter into subscriptions to fee drovers for a bullock; I have seen them drive the animal through the most populous parts of the parish, force sticks pointed with iron, up the body, put peas into the ears, and infuriate the beast, so to to endanger the lives of all persons passing along the streets.
This on the Sunday?—At all times, chiefly on the Sunday, Monday, and sometimes Tuesday; Monday is the principal day; one or two thousand men and boys will, on these occasions, leave their looms and join in the pursuit; pockets are frequently picked; persons are tossed and torn; one day in the last summer, I am informed, that one man was killed, and two so severely wounded, that their lives were despaired of.
Did you ever learn whether that information was correct?—1 am persuaded, with respect to one of then who was tossed in St. John-street, near my house; the other two were in Hackney-parish; they drove the beast into Hackney, where the accidents happened; one was taken to the hospital, where I understood he died.
Do they ever drive the bullock across the church-yard?—Yes ; about two months ago, during the time of Divine Service, to the great consternation of the congregation, a bullock was hunted in the church-yard; and although Mr. Merceron, a Magistrate for the county, the beadles, and Mr. Merceron's clerk, who is a constable, were present; I cannot learn, that they took any steps to put a stop to so wanton and disgraceful an outrage; on the contrary, I have reason to believe, that the officers of my parish frequently connive at and sanction such practices.
What reason have you ro believe that? —I have sent for a constable to request that he would furnish me with the names of some of the ringleaders, and I never could yet obtain a single name, though most of them were resident in the neighbourhood, and must be known to him. And I have sometimes seen him actually join its the chase.
Did you .ever speak to Mr. Merceron, or to any of the Magistrates, or lay any special complaints before the Bench of Magistrates?—I complained to Mr. Merceron, about five years ego, of the disgraceful practice of bullock-hunting, and expressed it wish to be in the commission of the peace, that I might more effectually prevent such practices. Upon that occasion, Mr. Merceron declared that there was no kind of amusrnent he was so fond of us bullock-hunting, and that its his younger days he was generally the first its the chase; he discouraged me at the same time from entertaining any hopes of getting into the commission, by saying no person could be appointed unless he was recommended by the other Magistrates; and that if any other Magistrate was necessary for the district, he should take care to recommend his friend Mr. Timmings, and not me.
Did you ever make any complaint to any other Magistrate, or to the Bench?— I have made a complaint to the Police Office, Worship-street, twice ; they have sent officers both times immediately.
Did the interference of the officers of Worship-street put a stop for that time to the evil you complained of?—Yes, certainly, immediately; the mob dispersed, and I believe they took the bullock from them ; m fact, I have taken two bullocks from them which they had driven into the church-yard: I opened a stable door in the church-yard, the bullocks took refuge there, and I put a lock on and locked them in.
Do those bullock, according to your belief, belong to any butcher, or are they purchased for the purpose of hunting? — I believe they belong to large droves, which are coming to Smithfield market, and that the persons who assemble in this field, fee the drovers to let them select a bullock out of their herd.
In the way to market?—Yes, un the Sunday, and sometimes in their coming from the market on the Monday.
Are those scenes of riot and confusion more frequent on the Sunday or th Monday?—On both days; but bullocks are, I think, more frequently hunted on the Monday than the Sunday; but this mob, which assembles on the Sunday. assembles generally on the Sunday about eleven o'clock, or a little before.
Was two months ago the last period in which the bullock-hunting has taken placc?—No. there has been bullock-hunting since that ; and I apprehend, from the inquiries I have made within the last few days, that it has been discontinued within the last fortnight or three weeks ; since this Committee has been sitting, an alarm has been produced, and more pains taken to prevent those outrages.
You have mentioned the name of Mr. Thninings, whom Mr. Merceron called his friend, and whom he wished to recommend to be a Magistrate; did you know him? — He was a person who had retired from keeping an ale-house; a man extremely ignorant.
Were you personally acquainted with him :—Yes, he is since dead.
Have you made any application to the Lord Lieutenant or to any one else, for the purpose of being in the commission?— I wrote soon after, I expressed my wish to Mr. Merceron, to the two members for the county; from the one I received a letter, saying that he never interfered, and from the other I received no answer.
Independent of the bullock-hunting, are the scenes of riot and disorder great during the Sunday in the fields adjoining the church?—Extremely so.
Crowds of disorderly people of both sexes:—Yes, but principally men and boys; and when I have spoken to some of the Police officers, they have told me that they durst not interfere, on account of their being so numerous and so desperate.
Are you at all acquainted with the condition in which the public-houses are in, in your parish, whether they are orderly or disorderly? —Some of them I apprehend are very disorderly, and I cannot but think that great blame is imputable to the acting Magistrates for the district, for not suppressing the licences of such houses.
Do you know any that have been in that disorderly condition for several years?—Some of them have been represented as being very disorderly; and I will take the liberty of mentioning those that have been particularly specified, if it is wished.
Did you ever lay any complaint against the conduct of those houses before the licensing Magistrates? — I never did.
Do you know whether such complaint has ever been made by the officers of the parish?—No, I do not.
If these houses are considered as so disorderly, can you assign any reason why you did not feel it your duty to lay such information? —It was not till lately that any particular houses were pointed out.
How long is it since you have learned that there are particular houses in your parish that some under that description? —Probably about a month or six weeks ago.
How long have you been resident in the parish ?—Seven years.
It is only within this month or six weeks that you have heard of any of the houses being disorderly?—No, I have beard that some of than were disorderly, but none were pointed out specifically to me till lately.
You considered the houses as for the resort of the lower classes of people in that neighbourhood:—Yes.
What are the particular houses the names of which you have learnt? —There are three that have been particularly pointed out; the one is the Sun in Slater-street, the Three Sugar Loaves in St. John-street, and the Seven Stars in Fleet-street.
Have those houses been particularly named to you, as being the three worst in the parish? —I do not know that they have been named as the worst, but are very disorderly.
Do you know any others that are disorderly ?—None that I can speak to, as so disorderly as those two or three others have been named, but I have not had an opportunity of making minute inquiry respecting them.
Do you know whether any complaint has ever been laid before the Magistrates, in respect of those houses?— I do not.
Do von know any thing as to the mode in which those houses are held, or who is the proprietor, or with whom they deal, that would lend you to think that any protection would be given them against such complaints, if they had been made? —The three houses I have mentioned belong to property of which Mr. Merceron is rent-gatherer; he took a lease of the latter house, that is of the Seven Stars, in the year 1788, and afterwards underlet it to Messrs. Hanburys; that and the Three Sugar Loaves are in Messrs. Hanburys trade.
Are those facts within your own knowledge—Yes, they are.
Is the manner in which those houses are conducted particularly disorderly ?— I have reason to believe it is; the Seven Stars and Three Sugar Loaves are a receptable for suspicious characters, at hours when all other public-houses are closed ; and at the Sun, a club significantly termed a cock and hen club, has been, and I believe still is held.
In which boys and girls meet ?—Yes, and get drunk and debauch one another.
Do you know, whether Mr. Merceron has the management of, as rent gatherer, or is the proprietor of many public-houses in the parish ?—I have been given to understand, that Mr. Hanbury holds ten or twelve public-houses under him.
You do not know that of your own knowledge ?—No, I do not; but I know that he serves a great number of those houses upon that property where Mr. Merceron is agent and rent-gatherer, from the boards over their doors.
Is there any personal difference between you and Mr. Merceron?—Nothing, except what has arisen from a disapprobation of his official conduct ; he is the treasurer of the parish, has amassed a large fortune without any ostensible means; takes care to elect the most ignorant and the lowest characters, on whom he can depend, to fill all parochial offices, and to audit his accounts; when I say elect, I mean that his influence is so extensive in the parish, that whoever he nominates, the vestry is sure to sanction and appoint.
Has there been a considerable opposition to that influence within your own memory, by the parishioners?—Yes, there has ; and indeed I am told that previous to my coming into the parish, the same opposition was manifested; that for the last 25 years, the respectable part of the parish have been contending with him for a successful examination of his accounts, and have never succeeded; with the assistance of the Dissenters, with whom he has identified himself, and the publicans who dare not withhold their support, he bears down all opposition; a grant of upwards of 12,000l. from Parliament, during a time of great distress in the parish, in the year 1800, passed through his hands, for the relief of the out-door poor, which I have reason to believe was not applied to the purpose for which it was intended, nor is it satisfactorily accounted for.
What reason have you to believe that?—I have got an extract, which I have made from the parish register, in which it appears to have been audited, and I have been informed, that he pretended he had mislaid or lost his vouchers, and not a single voucher was produced; Mr. Mitford, jun. was, I believe, sent down by Government, to inquire how the money had been expended ; I am not aware how far he was satisfied. I have brought with me an extract from the parish register. purporting to be an audit of the account; that 505l. which appears at the bottom, remained in his hands about two years ;. there was then, a little disturbance in the parish, and it was brought forward and paid to the Poor's Rate account ...
Easter Monday, 1802.
Joseph Merceron, Esq. one of the Committee appointed on Faster Monday last,
for the management of the Money voted by Parliament, for the Relief of
this Parish, reported that they had received from Govermuent the sum of
Paid by Weekly Payments 6894l. 4s 6d.
Paid sundry Tradesman's Bills 518l. 9s. 1d.
Paid Stationery, Printing and incidental Expenses 109l. 8s. 7 1/2d.
Paid to Poor Rate Account 3,412l. 13s. 4d.
Paid to Building Account 724l. 16s. 7d.
Balance in hand 505l. 12s. 2 1/2d.
£12,165 4s. 4d.
Can you explain that part of the account by which that 3,400l. was paid
to the Poor hates?—That was before I came into the Parish, and I cannot;
I inquired at Down, Thornton & Co.'s banking-house, as to the
amount of the sum that had gone through Mr. Merceron s hands, and I
have reason to believe that he received nearly 500l. more than appears
in that account; I have received a letter from their clerk to that
effect; Mr. Merceron denies having received the money, and says it was
brought to him by the church-wardens; the churchwardens are since dead,
and how the matter stands cannot be explained.
You cannot explain at all how it came to pass that 3,412l. was paid over
to the head of the Poor's Rate?—Not at all.
Has this business ever been investigated by the parish since you have
been Rector?—An attempt has been made to investigate, but
unsuccessfully.
From what cause?— Mr. Merceron did not think proper to give any
account of it.
Were you not strong enough in the vestry to force hint to an
account?— By no means ; I will state what occurred a very short time ago
:—In order to prevent investigation, I have seen him instigate his
creatures to riot and clamour, even within the wells of the church; he
has taken his stand on the church steps, and proposed three times three
huzzas, taking his hat off and being the foremost in the shout; so
successful was he on that occasion, that lately he has adjourned all
public vestry meetings to the church-yard, where a mob has collected to
support him. He instigated that mob, at a late meeting, to attack a person
of the name of Shevill, who, had be not takent refuge in my house,
would probably have fallen a sacrifice to their fury.
What wes the cause of the supposed quarrel between Mr. Merceron and
Air, Shevill?—Mr. Shevill had addressed the parishioners, requiring that
Mr. Merceron should publish an annual account of the monies passing
through his hands; Mr. Shevill published two addresses, which appeared
to me very candid, and those, I believe, were the reasons of Mr. Merecron attacking him.
Is it the practice for the vestry to assemble in the church-yard?—That
is a thing never known till lately.
How long has the practice been adopted ?—I think on two late occasions,
when they expected a very full meeting that has taken place.
Has every householder a right to vote at vestry meeting ?—Every one
rated at 15l. and upwards.
Do you believe that all those who have assembled were rated at £15l.? — Thc great bulk of the mob were not rated at that sum.
Of course they had no means in the church-yard of keeping the vestry
distinct from the others?—Certainly not.
Have any legal measures ever been taken to correct the abuses of which
you complain?—Ahout three years ago, I advocated the cause of the
parishioners, and instituted two indictments against Mr. Merceron; the
one for having fraudulently altered the Poor Rates, after they had been
allowed, whereby he doubled and trebled the rates of some, and reduced
the rates of others; the other was for perjury, founded upon it series
of oaths he had taken before the Commons, the Court of Delegates, and
the Chancellor, upon the authenticity of which it chiefly depended,
whether he retained some property he had possessed himself of,
belonging to a poor idiot and her orphan sisters, or no; contrary to
the uniform tenor of which oaths, the three Courts unequivocally
decided and compelled him to restore the property.
The property, in point of fact, was restored? — It was; the houses and
the money were restored, in pursuance of a decree of Chancery, bearing
date 23d November 1812.
By what means did you become acquainted with the fact, as to his
altering the Poor's Rate?— From the information which I received from the
vestry clerk himself, who furnished me with the Poor's Rate books, and
pointed out the alterations that had been made.
Did you obtain a verdict against him ?—I was dissuaded by the person
whom I was so unfortunate as to employ as my solicitor on the occasion,
from being in Court at the time of the trials; he contrived to instruct
the leading counsel to declare, that I had consented to a verdict of
acquittal being obtained for the defendant without trial, although I had
given positive instructions to proceed with the trials; the counsel have
declared, both before and subsequent to that mysterious transaction,
that had the trials gone on, there was no doubt of his being convicted.
Is the vestry clerk now living—He is; I have extracts by me which I think amount to about five hundred cases, where alterations took place
in the rates pointed out by the vestry clerk, and who still holds that
office.
What is his name?—James May.
Is Mr. Merceron popular among the lower classes of the inhabitants in
your parish?—Universully abhorred ; but having the collection of rents
to a very considerable extent, and a number of houses of a small
description in the parish, and as he can command the publicans by being a
licensing Magistrate, and having been a commissioner of the property
tax, and sitting on all appeals with respect to the assessed as well as
parochial taxes, he has had on opportunity of most deppotically
tyrannizing over the parish.
Is it the prevailing opinion in the parish, that a victualler has a
better chance of obtaining a licence from the licensing Magistrates, if
he applies for that licence through the medium of one person more than
another?—Unquestionably; a man is considered a fool who applies for a
licence through the medium of any other person than Messrs. Hanbury; I
know there is an intimacy and connection between Mr. Merceron and them,
for I heard Mr. Merecron formerly declare, when I was on better terms
with him than I am at present, that Hanbury was a devilish good fellow,
that he was always sending him presents, that he supplied his house with
beer gratis, and that the week before he had sent him half a barrel of
porter.
What is the state of the poor at this moment in your parish ?—It is
truly wretched; the house is overflowing with poor; I believe they are
at this time crowded together in beds, and that there are as many as six
or seven in a bed; the men and women are in separate wards, that is the
only distinction which can be made; the master of the workhouse has
declared to me, that the house is not capable of containing more than 350, and I believe at the present time there are 700.
Do you know whether there is a great want of work among the weavers who
inhabit your parish ; are many looms out of employments'—Very many.
It has been stated that there are nearly 3,000 looms out of employ in
that vicinity at the present moment ; do you know whether that is
correct? — I am not aware of the exact number.
Is the situation of the poor in your parish worse now than it was last
year? — I should conceive much, and the great inhumanity of the parish officers consists in
the very scanty pittance they allow the outdoor poor; they compel them
all in the very crowded state of the house to come into the house, or
they do not allow them more than from one shilling to three shillings
per family, according to their number.
What is the allowance paid by the parish for each person in the
workhouse per head per week?—I have no means of knowing that at all,
but believe they cost the parish about 5s. 6d. per head.
Do you know what is the amount of bread, meat, &c. received per
week, in the workhouse, each person?—Ninety oz, of bread, 18 oz. of
meat, 1/2 lb. of butter, or 7 oz. of cheese; three pints of water gruel,
and three pints of broth ; three teaspoontuls of salt, and 1/2lb. of soap,
per ward ; also, seven pints of small beer, valued at about 5s. 6 d.
per barrel.
Do you know what is the amount of the poor rate that was levied last
year, or is to be levied this year, in the parish?—I do not.
From your observation, during a residence of seven years, can you state
to the Committee, what is the moral condition of the inhabitants of your
parish at present, contrasting it with what it was a few years back?—Not at all improved, or likely to in consequence of the want of
education ; for although we have such an enormous population, we are
only educating an hundred and twenty children under the Establishment,
and we have only one parish church, capable of containing about twelve
hundred, for the accommodation of all. I am not aware what number are
educating by the Methodists, but I believe a considerable number.
Are there any other schools established in your parish ?—None, where
they arw educated free of expense, excepting those which the Dissenters
may have established ; they are principally Sunday schools.
Is there any school of the British and Foreign School Society ?—Not
immediately in my parish, but in the parish of Spitalfields adjoining,
there is a very large one.
Do many of the children of your parish attend?—I do not know the
number, but I should conceive a considerable number.
You consider the state of your parish as more indigent at present, and
as ignorant as it was some years back?—Quite, or more so.
It is then to the joint operation of increased indigence, and not
augmented knowledge, that you attribute most materially the depraved
state of the lower orders?— Certainly.
Do you know, whether the parish officers pay a regular attention to
keeping the streets orderly and quiet at night?—Considering the
description of population, I think they are ns orderly as can be
expected.
By whom are the constables named ?—Every officer in the parish is
appointed by Mr. Merceron, and all obey his mandates.
Is he high constable?—No, he is not.
Who is, the legal officer holding this office?—I do not know who is the
constable for this year ; the officers are elected on Easter Monday,
and I think the list is not yet printed.
Whoever Mr. Merceron thinks proper to nominate, is chosen as a Matter of
course ?—Quite so.
Friday, 14 September 2012
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
A Populous Wilderness
I can't keep away from toilets at the moment. Here's a ground-breaking plea for ladies (and men's) toilets, in full, from 1879 (referred to my previous post on the Ladies Sanitary Assocation):-
REPORT ON THE NECESSITY OF LATRINE ACCOMMODATION FOR WOMEN IN THE METROPOLIS
by James Stevenson, M.D. Medical Officer of Health for Paddington
The Ladies Sanitary Association, having addressed a letter to the Vestry of Paddington respecting the provision by the Parish of Water-closet accommodation for Women, the same was referred by the Sanitary and Public Health Committee to the Medical Officer of Health for consideration and report.
The subject of Latrine accommodation for women in the metropolis, if it be deemed one which admits of a practical solution, suggests three main questions for consideration:-
1. Is such accommodation necessary?
2. Is it the business of a Vestry to provide it?
3. How can it best be supplied?
1. As to its necessity. - London is the largest city in the world, and in size and in population it is yearly increasing. The natural increase of its population, from the excess of births over deaths, is little short of 50,000 a year, or nearly 1,000 every week. As this annual addition does not arise from immigration, but naturally follows from the self-multiplying power of its inhabitants, it is consequently liked to be maintained. In a word, London possessed and retains within its own borders a population increasingly capable of ading largely to the number of its inhabitants and, with the need of more house accommodation, of extending its area.
The population of London, exclusive of the outer ring, is estimated at 3,620,868 of whom 1,694,741 are males, and 1,926,127 are females. The estimated population of Greater London, which embraces the suburrban districts, with an area of 698 square miles, is 4,534,040 With its 1,500 miles of roads, London already extends from Fulham to Woolwich and from Hampstead to Norwood and in 1871 contained 417,767 inhabited dwellings. As from five to six thousand homes are annually added to the metropolis, ever lengthening streets of brick and mortar form new neighbourhoods and the distances from the principal thoroughfares of business and pleasre are increased,
Great, however, as has been the growth of London during the last thirty years, the causes which have contributed to that growth are still in operation, as well as others of more recent origin. Railways and steamboats, which have directly or indirectly supplied much of the impetus to the accelerated rate of movement observable in every sphere of human activity, have not yet done all that they are capable of doing in the way of adding to the metropolis and of revolutionizing society. Agriculture is yearly becoming a less profitable occupation, anbd more and more the recreative employment of monied commercial men, who, having found profit in business, now seek business in pleasure. Commerce and manufacture, though the application of steam power, have enormously increased; and whilst they have added largely to the population of some provincial towns and cities, they have also created new and important commercial and industrial centres.
It is said that half London does not sleep in London. During the day time only it is the gathering ground of the people. Comparatively deserted during the night, it is betwixt sunrise and sunset that multitudes flock to the metropolis. That hundreds of thousands of pesons in the metropolis are compelled to live at considerable distances from the sphere of their daily employment, and are thus subjected to many discomforts and positive evils, besides the expenditure of time, of money, and of energy in going to and from theirt work, is a fact which, however much for some reason it may be regretted, should for present purposes be distinctly recognised. It is an inevitable condition of life in London, necessitated by circumstances, and making the conveniences in question a metropolitan want.
It is alleged that there are in this country more than three millions of women supporting themselves by their own exertions*
* The number of women enggaged in the various industries, as returned by the Census of 1871, plus 7 per cent for the increase of population appears to be as follows:-
Under 20 . . . . .1,219,000
20 and upwards ... 2,469,000
total 3,688,000 (Prof. LEONE LEVI.)
and with a growing population, and the greater struggle to live it is certain that, unless they are to starve, much paid labour must continue to be done by them. The gross earnings of the female population of the United Kingdom already exceed £100,000,000 a year*
* The total amount of gross earnings of the women of the working classes of the United Kingdom under a condition of an average amount of employment and at present rates, I ascertained to be:
Under 20 . . . . . . £29million
20 and upwards ... £84million
total £113 million (Prof. LEONE LEVI)
and with increasing ability entitling their labour to a better reward, it is not improbable that for a time women will continue to receive a higher proportionate rate of increase of wages than men, as has been the case during the past few years - a fact specially noticeable in the sums now paid to educationalists, to schoolmistresses, to domestic servants, and to milliners and dressmakers.
The census of 1871 showed that in the cpaital of the empire nearly every one of the multifarious forms of laobur had its female representatives. Of the 1,731,109 females of all ages then residing in it, about one half were returned as belonging to the domestic class, comprising wives and domestic servants engaged in household duties, less than one third were scholars and children of no occupation; and, with the exception of abbout 30,000 who were described as gentlewomen or annuitants, the remainder, numbering upwards of 300,000 were engagaed in professional, commercial, agricultural or industrial pursuits. From recent returns is apepars that there are 143,341 women enrolled in the trade societies of the metropolis alone, many of whom, as well as thousands additional similarly employed who do not belong to any society, have daily to walk long distances to and from their workshops.
The number of women of the wage-earning classes engagted in the various ways above indicated must now be very much greater, as the occupations which furnish subsistence to women are more numerous and since 1871 the estimated increase of the population considerably exceeds one third of a million. This throng of women, whose avocations of necessity dailyy take them into the streets, is increased by the much larger number who go out of doors for the purposes of shopping, or for the sake of their health, or for recreation; and it is further supplemented by the crowds of women who come to town for the day by river, road, and rail, and by the thousands of female visitors from the more distant parts of the country, and from abroad. Of the number of women who daily pass along our streets, I have seen no computation. The actual number of persons carried during the year 1878 by the Metropolitan and by the Metropolitan District Railways was 88,217,536;*
*Railway
The Metropolitan : 58,807,038
The Metropolitan District 29,410,498
total 88,217,536
by the tramcars 54,361,147
*Tramways
The North Metropolitan Tramways Company 28,569,639
The London Tramways Company 19,732,528
The London District Tramways Company 6,058,980
Total 54,361,147
and the estimated number by the omnibuses 74,719,060
*Omnibuses
The London General Omnibus Company 56,039,295
Estimated number carried by other Omnibuses 18,679,765
Total 74,719,060
giving a total of 217,297,743 for the year.
It will be conceded that a large number of these passengers were women, and that they had to leave their homes for a longer or shorter period; whilst they again were outnumbered by the crowds of their own sex who did not use any form of conveyance. The number of passengers poured into the streets from steamboats, omnibuses, tramways, underground and over-ground railways, as well as from the cabs and carriages used by wealthier citizens, is less than the stream of pedestrians who avail themselves of none of these means of locomotion.
No longer satisfied with mere accomplishments, the mind of the nation, moreover, has undergone a change with regard to the education of the wives and mothers of the next generation. The demand has been made and been admitted, that the resources of the Universities and the benefits derivable from academical education, which hitherto have been exclusively enjoyed by men, shall henceforth be shared by women. In fact, such are the exigencies of the day, so great is the supposed necessity in the world's onward progress for the utilization of all available forces, so urgent are the calls to the youth of both sexes to be up and doing in order to earn a livelihood, and more particularly to insure success in their respective callings, that society, recognising no distinction of sex, is no longer disposed to tolerate those barriers in respect of education which have hitherto prevented women of the middle ranks from actively engaging in the struggles of life. Whilst thus exemplifying and accentuating the doctrine of the survival of the fittest, women are becoming with their more complete equipment the helpmates as well as the helpmeets of men, and are so ensuring for themselves anothher title to our respect - that of being, in their several spheres, efficient working women.
As a consequence of all this material and mental rearrangement, and of the close relation between town and country in these days, the number of female workers is likely to increase; and with the prospect of the more remunerative employment of women, it is not impossible that men may ere long have to compete with tem in channels of business, and of professional life, from which the latter have hitherto been excluded.
Thus the facilities for travelling, the creation of new industrries, the enlargement of old ones, and the spread of education, both general and technical, have, together with other causes, the most imperious being the necessity to live, induced among large masses of the population migratory habits unknown to their forefathers. One very obvious result of all these social changes and movements is, that young men and women are leaving the rural districts in quest of employment, whilst the more ambitious of them gravitate towards London.
The preceding facts and figures cannot be deemded irrelevant or unimportant, as the circumstances which they disclose, if thoroughly understood, are, or should be, the cardinal factors in determining the question now under consideration.
Whilst they reveal the daily needs and conditions of metropolitan life, which are altogether different from those of smaller communities, they at the same time justify the adoption and emphasize the necessity of exceptional measures. No one would think of proposing latrine accommodation for women in a town where most of the inhabitants are known to one another, and are within an easy distance of their own homes. London is a populous wilderness, and nowhere is the sense of solitude at times more keenly felt. London is the heart of the world; and whilst its pulsations are felt at the extremities of civilization, at its base are growths and chronic adhesions, and other abnormal conditions, which require courage as well as skill in order to their successful, and altogether, peculiar treatment.
Upon the medical aspect of the question it is not necessary to enlarge. Of this aggregate of moving feminine humanity referred to, of all ages, and belonging to every grade of society, it is sufficient to wsay that every unit of it has in common with men the same physical necessities. For the maintenance of life, it is not more necessary to take food and drink, than subsequently to get rid of what the system cannot appropriate. The one organic necessity involves the other. They are correlated. It is a mistake to suppose that there are such differences in the female organization, that these primal requirements of physical being can be disregarded by women with less suffering than by men. There are periods and conditions peculiar to sex, when latrine accommodation would be specially convenient; and as at such times the requirements of nature are apt to be more urgent and more frequent, women would be spared much unnecessary mental and physical distress, were the accommodation provided.
It is true that by the exercise of the will we can control for a time the muscular openings which serve as inlets or outlets to the body; and that we thus have the power of resisting to a considerable extent the calls of nature, when inconvenient. This power is not possessed by infants, or young children, or by the aged, or the infirm. But such resistance, which circumstances too frequently impose upon women, if habitually practised, is sure to be followed by injurious results. Apoplexy is an every day consequence of constipation. Much of the cerebral and cardiac disturbance of the present day - and it is alleged to be on the increase - is probably due to the same cause. It is certina that almost every form of disease, whether local or constitutional, is likely to be aggravated by constipation; and that, whether it be the cause or effect of other diseases, it is sure to occur if the evacuation of the bowels, from choice or from necessity, be persistently delayed. It should also be borne in mind that diseases of a grave character, induced by constipation, are apt to continue their course independent and unchecked, long after the cause may have ceased. The same remarks apply, in great measure, to retention of urine, which is the other condition most likely to arise from the want of the provision in question. Again, persons of both sexes and of all ages suffer at times fro diarrhoea and irritable bladder, and must be greatly inconvenienced by the want of the required accommodation.
There is abundant testimony from medical men and others, available if necessary, to prove that this is no imaginary want, the creation of sentimentalism, but that it is really a great and growing one, which calls for the prompt and careful consideration of those who business it is to make provision for it, and at the same time deserves their beneficent efforts seeing that it is experienced by those whose natural reserve upon such a subject, and whose positions in life for the most part prevent them from making themselves heard. Modesty suggests that nurses should have the opportunity of privately performing thier duties to their little charges. Ladies who are interested in the welfare of those below them in the social scale are ready to declare that poor women have often told them, with tears in their eyes, of the agony and shame they have endured in circumstances which it is not necessary to particularise. Sir James McGarel Hogg has recently expressed himself as quite alive to the want, which he considers to be a real and a serious one. "There is no doubt," the Lancet has remarked, "that the establishment of retiring rooms for ladies will prove a great boon." To obtain this much-needed accommodation, some ladies go to restaurants and order refreshments which they do not require, and others to milliners' and confectioners' shops. It may be safely assumed that the money thus spent, even when it is only a few pence, cannot always be conveniently spared.
In the foregoing observations, if their full meaning and significance be thoughtfully considered, it must be candidlyy admitted that the conditions are shown, which make latrine accommodation a necessity, as it also the extent of that necessity; and that, in the nature of things, until it is provided, it must continue a great and urgent present and prospective want; and that, with the ever enlarging area of the metropolis, there must be a proportionately increasing demand for such accommodation, which it will at length be impossible to resist.
The question next arises-
II. Is it the business of a Vestry to provide such accommodation?
The answer is supplied by the Public Health Act of 1848* [*"And be it enacted that the Local Board of Health may, if they think fit, provide and maintain, in proper and convenient situations, water-closets, privies, and other similar conveniences for public accommodation, and defray the necessary expenses out of the district rates to be levied under the Act." 11&12 Vic.,57 Sect. c.63] and by the Act 18&19 Victorian 1855.* [*"It shall be lawful for every Vestry and District Board to provide and maintain urinals, water-closets, privies and like conveniences, in situations which they deem such accommodation to be required, and to supply the same with water, and to defray the expense thereof, and any damage occasioned to any person by the erection thereof, and the expense of keeping the same in good order, as expenses of sewerage, are to be defrayed under this act." 88 sect. 120 c.]
In Glasgow, Nottingham,* [* In Glasgow there are three Female Lavatories, which the Sanitary Inspector reports were used during 34 weeks of last year by 7981 persons. In Nottingham there is one lavatory for females, with five closets and one wash-stand on the ground-floor, for the use of which one penny is charged. Upstairs there are four wash-hand basins with additional toilet articles, for the use of these two-pence is charged. During the year ending 30th December 1878, 1040 females used the lavatories, and 18,649 the closets, at a total charge of £82 2s 11d. Dr. Seaton, the Medical Officer of Health for Nottingham says, "In speaking of the success of public closets, I am more especially lookingto the very sustantial sanitary advantages which have resulted from their establishment. They are generally regarded as a great public boon."] and some other provincial towns, and in Paris, and other continental cities, the conveniences in question already exist; thus furnishing presumptive evidence of their necessity, and of the practicability as wellas of the great propriety of establishing them in London. To prevent obstruction of the public pavements, the owners of omnibuses might fairly be required to provide at their offices, and other recognised stopping places, waiting rooms for their customers, as is done in Paris, and by the Tramway companies of the metropolis. To these shelters, necessary in our variable climate, closets might with advantage be added. It would be unreasonable to expect the Railway authorities in the metropolis who are already hampered by the want of room at their different stations, or Omnibus companies, to provide accommodation free of charge for the general public. If the former would extend the existing accommodation to other than their passengers, and thus do their part towards satisfying a want which they have helped to create; and if the latter would provide it for their customers in both instances at a fixed charge, the necessities of a large section of the public would be met more particularly in this parish, in which there are so many railway stations. But inasmuch as there are railway stations in some parts only of the metropolis, and some of them have not accessible waiting-rooms, there remains the multitude to whom public closets are a necessity, whichonly a Vestry or District Board can be expected to supply. Of that multitude, whilst many are poor women who minister to the wants of others in a parish and therefore deserve some consideration, not a few are ratepayers; and inasmuch as women, by the payment of rates, contribute to the parochial funds, justice demands that they should share the conveniences procurable by the expenditure of those funds.
Many vestries recognise the need of conveniences for women, but do not see their way to carry out the recommendations of their Medical Officers of Health in the matter. Hitherto, whenever attention has been directed to the question, it has been sympathetically discussed, and has afterwards been quietly shelved. Surely the time has come, when the problem should be solved. Its solution, which must happen sooner or later, does not involve any great expenditure; and that expenditure, if judicious, would in all probability be amply remunerative. The closets at the Waterloo Station yield £1000 each year, and those at Cannon Street and Charing Cross each a still larger sum. Much will depend upon the completeness of the arrangements and upon the management and care subsequently bestowed upon them.
Intimately connected with this question is that of urinal and water accommodation for men. In the matter of the first mentioned, the Londoners of today are much worse off than those of preceding generations, Owing to the removal of the conveniences which formerly existed outside every public house, there is nowadays, with a greatly increased demand, a greatly diminished supply. Here again, the remark holds good that publicans cannot fairly be expected to provide accommodation for the general public. It is enough for them to meet the wants of their own customers. In the parish of Paddington, with an area of 1,280 acres, with its 44 miles of roads, and with a population of 110,000 inhabitants, which is augmented during the day by tens of thousands of persons passing to and from no fewer than six railway stations, and in close proximity to others, there are only eight public urinals. As a general rule, at every cab rank there should be a urinal, with W.C. accommodattion of two kinds, and for two classes, in charge of an attendant during the day, and of a policeman during the night. The convenience of this arrangement must be obvious to everyone. Some years have elapsed since a Sub-Committee of the Vestry adopted Dr. Hardwicke's recommendations and reported that at least 5 more urinals, as well as W.C. accommodation for both sexes, should be provided. Suitable sites were selected, and other valuable suggestions were offered by my predecessor, which it is not necessary to recapitulate. Little, however, has been done in the matter of the one, and nothing in that of the other.
Respecting that accommodation, the question remains:-
III. How can it best be supplied?
The nature of the accommodation is understood. Besides closets, there should be a retiring room, in which children could be attended to, and another supplied with wash-hand basins and other toilet requisites. To meet these requirements in the metropolis, in some instances special erections would be necessary, in others existing buildings could be reconstructed and utilised. In some parishes waiting rooms might perhaps be conveniently placed within the precincts of the workhouse, or of almshouses; or they mighht be attached to the public baths and washhouses, or other buildings which belong to to the parish. In the form of lodges at the entrances to parks, of public gardens, of public recreation grounds, of cemeteries, of burial grounds, and of bridges, there will be found suitable situations. In some streets there are recessess or small vacant plots of ground, which might be turned to account. At all churches and chapel necessary accommodation should be provided for worshippers. This is done by the Presbyterian, and to some extent, by other denominations.
Unless in the form of lodges when more space would, in general, be available, the closets should be in the rear of a building, and on a level with the street, thus avoiding stairs, and facilitating ingress and egress. The yard containing the closets, and admitting of their ventilation, shoul be covered in with glass, as at the railway stations, in order ot keep it always dry, and to secure privacy, as well as to prevent anything unsightly to the neighbours on either side. On the ground floor should be a private waiting room, and also a room for the accommodation of nurses; upstairs there might be a lavatory, with hot and cold water, for the use of which a separate charge could be made.
It is imperative that the provision made should be of two kinds, and for two classes - for those who are willing, and for those who are unable, to pay for the accommodcation. It is only reasonable that those who directly contribute to the cost and maintenance of public conveniences should have better accommodation, if it be attainable, than those who do not pay anything. Moreover, women of the middle class will not be willing to company, for however short a time, with a promiscuous crowd, even of their own sex.
The first-class closets should be lined with white glazed tiles, the doors having a patent registering lock to show how often the closet has been used. The free closets should be lined with dark glazed bricks. A common stoneware glazed pan, with flushing rim and S trap fixed to the neck of the pan above the floor line, would probably be the best arrangement. The control of the water supply might, possibly with advantages, be let in the hands of the care-taker, whose duty it would be to examine and to flush the closets every time they were used.
At first the closets might be ranged on opposite sides of the yard, which should bge divided lengthways, by a stout glass screen, and afterwards if necessary they could be placed in a row back to back down the middle. Separate drainage should be provided, for the two classes of closets, lest one or other of them should at any time be blocked.
"Public lavatories for women," or "Waiting rooms for women," or by whatever name they may be designated, should have separate entrances, marked 1st and 2nd class, the latter leading to the free closets. Subject to frequent inspection on the part of the Sanitary Authorities, they must be under the constant care of a reliable woman, whose duty it would be, to keep them scrupulously clean, to preserve order, and to acount for the money received from those who pay for the accommodation.
The buildings might be made readily distinguishable by a coloured lamp, and should be situated in the main lines of traffic, or within sight of them; such being, indicated by the omnibus routes. If they are placed in too prominent situations, in the middle of the streets, as has been suggested - like the cabman's shelter - or next door to a public house, or if they are hidden in back streets, they will be of little use, or will be frequented by those chiefly who will find a pleasure in making them additional nuisances to the parish.
Whether the premises required by a Vestry for the contemplated conveniences should be leasehold or freehold, whether they should include a shop for the sale exclusively of articles of feminine attire, or a cloak room, or a tea room, or a room supplied with newspapers, and writing materials, or for any other purposes, such as a servants' registry &c. are questions which must be determined by the different circumstances of different localities.
In Paddington the principal lines of traffic are the Edgware and Uxbridge Roads, which on two sides form the boundaries of the parish; and Praed Street, Harrow Road, Bishop's Road, and Westbourne grove, by which it may be said to be intersected. To these thoroughfares all others in the parish converge; and in them, or in close proximity to them, these conveniences should be placed. Suitable places for waiting rooms might be found, within sigh of the Edgware Road, in Star Street, or Titchborne Street; in the Uxbridge Road, at the entrances to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens; in Harrow Road, at Paddington Green and at the Workhouse; and for the accommodation of persons, when in the neighbourhood of Bishop's road and of Westbourne Grove, in Pickering Place, or at the Public Baths and Washhouses in Queen's Road.
In certain parts of the country, primitive habits are sitll practised, and the calls of nature are obeyed sub frigido Jove. Water closets, cattle troughs, drinking fountains and other similar contrivances are the expression of an advanced civilization. Is it too much to ask, that the Parish of Paddington, which claims a place in the forefront of that advance, should in a spirit of honourable rivalry, show to other localities, less richly endowed, how, not only to its own parishioners, but to all who wait upon its wants, every reasonable obligation can best be discharged? Such a rivalry in its inception, in its progress, and in its results, would be alike creditable to the parish and advantageous to the country.
In legislative matters, parochial, municipal, or parliamentary, the wisdom of statesmanship is seen in the prompt adoption of measuresbased upon a just appreciation present necessities, and upon a correct estimate of future proababilities.
JAMES STEVENSON, M.D.
Medical Officer of Health for Paddington
VESTRY HALL, PADDINGTON
March 1879
REPORT ON THE NECESSITY OF LATRINE ACCOMMODATION FOR WOMEN IN THE METROPOLIS
by James Stevenson, M.D. Medical Officer of Health for Paddington
The Ladies Sanitary Association, having addressed a letter to the Vestry of Paddington respecting the provision by the Parish of Water-closet accommodation for Women, the same was referred by the Sanitary and Public Health Committee to the Medical Officer of Health for consideration and report.
The subject of Latrine accommodation for women in the metropolis, if it be deemed one which admits of a practical solution, suggests three main questions for consideration:-
1. Is such accommodation necessary?
2. Is it the business of a Vestry to provide it?
3. How can it best be supplied?
1. As to its necessity. - London is the largest city in the world, and in size and in population it is yearly increasing. The natural increase of its population, from the excess of births over deaths, is little short of 50,000 a year, or nearly 1,000 every week. As this annual addition does not arise from immigration, but naturally follows from the self-multiplying power of its inhabitants, it is consequently liked to be maintained. In a word, London possessed and retains within its own borders a population increasingly capable of ading largely to the number of its inhabitants and, with the need of more house accommodation, of extending its area.
The population of London, exclusive of the outer ring, is estimated at 3,620,868 of whom 1,694,741 are males, and 1,926,127 are females. The estimated population of Greater London, which embraces the suburrban districts, with an area of 698 square miles, is 4,534,040 With its 1,500 miles of roads, London already extends from Fulham to Woolwich and from Hampstead to Norwood and in 1871 contained 417,767 inhabited dwellings. As from five to six thousand homes are annually added to the metropolis, ever lengthening streets of brick and mortar form new neighbourhoods and the distances from the principal thoroughfares of business and pleasre are increased,
Great, however, as has been the growth of London during the last thirty years, the causes which have contributed to that growth are still in operation, as well as others of more recent origin. Railways and steamboats, which have directly or indirectly supplied much of the impetus to the accelerated rate of movement observable in every sphere of human activity, have not yet done all that they are capable of doing in the way of adding to the metropolis and of revolutionizing society. Agriculture is yearly becoming a less profitable occupation, anbd more and more the recreative employment of monied commercial men, who, having found profit in business, now seek business in pleasure. Commerce and manufacture, though the application of steam power, have enormously increased; and whilst they have added largely to the population of some provincial towns and cities, they have also created new and important commercial and industrial centres.
It is said that half London does not sleep in London. During the day time only it is the gathering ground of the people. Comparatively deserted during the night, it is betwixt sunrise and sunset that multitudes flock to the metropolis. That hundreds of thousands of pesons in the metropolis are compelled to live at considerable distances from the sphere of their daily employment, and are thus subjected to many discomforts and positive evils, besides the expenditure of time, of money, and of energy in going to and from theirt work, is a fact which, however much for some reason it may be regretted, should for present purposes be distinctly recognised. It is an inevitable condition of life in London, necessitated by circumstances, and making the conveniences in question a metropolitan want.
It is alleged that there are in this country more than three millions of women supporting themselves by their own exertions*
* The number of women enggaged in the various industries, as returned by the Census of 1871, plus 7 per cent for the increase of population appears to be as follows:-
Under 20 . . . . .1,219,000
20 and upwards ... 2,469,000
total 3,688,000 (Prof. LEONE LEVI.)
and with a growing population, and the greater struggle to live it is certain that, unless they are to starve, much paid labour must continue to be done by them. The gross earnings of the female population of the United Kingdom already exceed £100,000,000 a year*
* The total amount of gross earnings of the women of the working classes of the United Kingdom under a condition of an average amount of employment and at present rates, I ascertained to be:
Under 20 . . . . . . £29million
20 and upwards ... £84million
total £113 million (Prof. LEONE LEVI)
and with increasing ability entitling their labour to a better reward, it is not improbable that for a time women will continue to receive a higher proportionate rate of increase of wages than men, as has been the case during the past few years - a fact specially noticeable in the sums now paid to educationalists, to schoolmistresses, to domestic servants, and to milliners and dressmakers.
The census of 1871 showed that in the cpaital of the empire nearly every one of the multifarious forms of laobur had its female representatives. Of the 1,731,109 females of all ages then residing in it, about one half were returned as belonging to the domestic class, comprising wives and domestic servants engaged in household duties, less than one third were scholars and children of no occupation; and, with the exception of abbout 30,000 who were described as gentlewomen or annuitants, the remainder, numbering upwards of 300,000 were engagaed in professional, commercial, agricultural or industrial pursuits. From recent returns is apepars that there are 143,341 women enrolled in the trade societies of the metropolis alone, many of whom, as well as thousands additional similarly employed who do not belong to any society, have daily to walk long distances to and from their workshops.
The number of women of the wage-earning classes engagted in the various ways above indicated must now be very much greater, as the occupations which furnish subsistence to women are more numerous and since 1871 the estimated increase of the population considerably exceeds one third of a million. This throng of women, whose avocations of necessity dailyy take them into the streets, is increased by the much larger number who go out of doors for the purposes of shopping, or for the sake of their health, or for recreation; and it is further supplemented by the crowds of women who come to town for the day by river, road, and rail, and by the thousands of female visitors from the more distant parts of the country, and from abroad. Of the number of women who daily pass along our streets, I have seen no computation. The actual number of persons carried during the year 1878 by the Metropolitan and by the Metropolitan District Railways was 88,217,536;*
*Railway
The Metropolitan : 58,807,038
The Metropolitan District 29,410,498
total 88,217,536
by the tramcars 54,361,147
*Tramways
The North Metropolitan Tramways Company 28,569,639
The London Tramways Company 19,732,528
The London District Tramways Company 6,058,980
Total 54,361,147
and the estimated number by the omnibuses 74,719,060
*Omnibuses
The London General Omnibus Company 56,039,295
Estimated number carried by other Omnibuses 18,679,765
Total 74,719,060
giving a total of 217,297,743 for the year.
It will be conceded that a large number of these passengers were women, and that they had to leave their homes for a longer or shorter period; whilst they again were outnumbered by the crowds of their own sex who did not use any form of conveyance. The number of passengers poured into the streets from steamboats, omnibuses, tramways, underground and over-ground railways, as well as from the cabs and carriages used by wealthier citizens, is less than the stream of pedestrians who avail themselves of none of these means of locomotion.
No longer satisfied with mere accomplishments, the mind of the nation, moreover, has undergone a change with regard to the education of the wives and mothers of the next generation. The demand has been made and been admitted, that the resources of the Universities and the benefits derivable from academical education, which hitherto have been exclusively enjoyed by men, shall henceforth be shared by women. In fact, such are the exigencies of the day, so great is the supposed necessity in the world's onward progress for the utilization of all available forces, so urgent are the calls to the youth of both sexes to be up and doing in order to earn a livelihood, and more particularly to insure success in their respective callings, that society, recognising no distinction of sex, is no longer disposed to tolerate those barriers in respect of education which have hitherto prevented women of the middle ranks from actively engaging in the struggles of life. Whilst thus exemplifying and accentuating the doctrine of the survival of the fittest, women are becoming with their more complete equipment the helpmates as well as the helpmeets of men, and are so ensuring for themselves anothher title to our respect - that of being, in their several spheres, efficient working women.
As a consequence of all this material and mental rearrangement, and of the close relation between town and country in these days, the number of female workers is likely to increase; and with the prospect of the more remunerative employment of women, it is not impossible that men may ere long have to compete with tem in channels of business, and of professional life, from which the latter have hitherto been excluded.
Thus the facilities for travelling, the creation of new industrries, the enlargement of old ones, and the spread of education, both general and technical, have, together with other causes, the most imperious being the necessity to live, induced among large masses of the population migratory habits unknown to their forefathers. One very obvious result of all these social changes and movements is, that young men and women are leaving the rural districts in quest of employment, whilst the more ambitious of them gravitate towards London.
The preceding facts and figures cannot be deemded irrelevant or unimportant, as the circumstances which they disclose, if thoroughly understood, are, or should be, the cardinal factors in determining the question now under consideration.
Whilst they reveal the daily needs and conditions of metropolitan life, which are altogether different from those of smaller communities, they at the same time justify the adoption and emphasize the necessity of exceptional measures. No one would think of proposing latrine accommodation for women in a town where most of the inhabitants are known to one another, and are within an easy distance of their own homes. London is a populous wilderness, and nowhere is the sense of solitude at times more keenly felt. London is the heart of the world; and whilst its pulsations are felt at the extremities of civilization, at its base are growths and chronic adhesions, and other abnormal conditions, which require courage as well as skill in order to their successful, and altogether, peculiar treatment.
Upon the medical aspect of the question it is not necessary to enlarge. Of this aggregate of moving feminine humanity referred to, of all ages, and belonging to every grade of society, it is sufficient to wsay that every unit of it has in common with men the same physical necessities. For the maintenance of life, it is not more necessary to take food and drink, than subsequently to get rid of what the system cannot appropriate. The one organic necessity involves the other. They are correlated. It is a mistake to suppose that there are such differences in the female organization, that these primal requirements of physical being can be disregarded by women with less suffering than by men. There are periods and conditions peculiar to sex, when latrine accommodation would be specially convenient; and as at such times the requirements of nature are apt to be more urgent and more frequent, women would be spared much unnecessary mental and physical distress, were the accommodation provided.
It is true that by the exercise of the will we can control for a time the muscular openings which serve as inlets or outlets to the body; and that we thus have the power of resisting to a considerable extent the calls of nature, when inconvenient. This power is not possessed by infants, or young children, or by the aged, or the infirm. But such resistance, which circumstances too frequently impose upon women, if habitually practised, is sure to be followed by injurious results. Apoplexy is an every day consequence of constipation. Much of the cerebral and cardiac disturbance of the present day - and it is alleged to be on the increase - is probably due to the same cause. It is certina that almost every form of disease, whether local or constitutional, is likely to be aggravated by constipation; and that, whether it be the cause or effect of other diseases, it is sure to occur if the evacuation of the bowels, from choice or from necessity, be persistently delayed. It should also be borne in mind that diseases of a grave character, induced by constipation, are apt to continue their course independent and unchecked, long after the cause may have ceased. The same remarks apply, in great measure, to retention of urine, which is the other condition most likely to arise from the want of the provision in question. Again, persons of both sexes and of all ages suffer at times fro diarrhoea and irritable bladder, and must be greatly inconvenienced by the want of the required accommodation.
There is abundant testimony from medical men and others, available if necessary, to prove that this is no imaginary want, the creation of sentimentalism, but that it is really a great and growing one, which calls for the prompt and careful consideration of those who business it is to make provision for it, and at the same time deserves their beneficent efforts seeing that it is experienced by those whose natural reserve upon such a subject, and whose positions in life for the most part prevent them from making themselves heard. Modesty suggests that nurses should have the opportunity of privately performing thier duties to their little charges. Ladies who are interested in the welfare of those below them in the social scale are ready to declare that poor women have often told them, with tears in their eyes, of the agony and shame they have endured in circumstances which it is not necessary to particularise. Sir James McGarel Hogg has recently expressed himself as quite alive to the want, which he considers to be a real and a serious one. "There is no doubt," the Lancet has remarked, "that the establishment of retiring rooms for ladies will prove a great boon." To obtain this much-needed accommodation, some ladies go to restaurants and order refreshments which they do not require, and others to milliners' and confectioners' shops. It may be safely assumed that the money thus spent, even when it is only a few pence, cannot always be conveniently spared.
In the foregoing observations, if their full meaning and significance be thoughtfully considered, it must be candidlyy admitted that the conditions are shown, which make latrine accommodation a necessity, as it also the extent of that necessity; and that, in the nature of things, until it is provided, it must continue a great and urgent present and prospective want; and that, with the ever enlarging area of the metropolis, there must be a proportionately increasing demand for such accommodation, which it will at length be impossible to resist.
The question next arises-
II. Is it the business of a Vestry to provide such accommodation?
The answer is supplied by the Public Health Act of 1848* [*"And be it enacted that the Local Board of Health may, if they think fit, provide and maintain, in proper and convenient situations, water-closets, privies, and other similar conveniences for public accommodation, and defray the necessary expenses out of the district rates to be levied under the Act." 11&12 Vic.,57 Sect. c.63] and by the Act 18&19 Victorian 1855.* [*"It shall be lawful for every Vestry and District Board to provide and maintain urinals, water-closets, privies and like conveniences, in situations which they deem such accommodation to be required, and to supply the same with water, and to defray the expense thereof, and any damage occasioned to any person by the erection thereof, and the expense of keeping the same in good order, as expenses of sewerage, are to be defrayed under this act." 88 sect. 120 c.]
In Glasgow, Nottingham,* [* In Glasgow there are three Female Lavatories, which the Sanitary Inspector reports were used during 34 weeks of last year by 7981 persons. In Nottingham there is one lavatory for females, with five closets and one wash-stand on the ground-floor, for the use of which one penny is charged. Upstairs there are four wash-hand basins with additional toilet articles, for the use of these two-pence is charged. During the year ending 30th December 1878, 1040 females used the lavatories, and 18,649 the closets, at a total charge of £82 2s 11d. Dr. Seaton, the Medical Officer of Health for Nottingham says, "In speaking of the success of public closets, I am more especially lookingto the very sustantial sanitary advantages which have resulted from their establishment. They are generally regarded as a great public boon."] and some other provincial towns, and in Paris, and other continental cities, the conveniences in question already exist; thus furnishing presumptive evidence of their necessity, and of the practicability as wellas of the great propriety of establishing them in London. To prevent obstruction of the public pavements, the owners of omnibuses might fairly be required to provide at their offices, and other recognised stopping places, waiting rooms for their customers, as is done in Paris, and by the Tramway companies of the metropolis. To these shelters, necessary in our variable climate, closets might with advantage be added. It would be unreasonable to expect the Railway authorities in the metropolis who are already hampered by the want of room at their different stations, or Omnibus companies, to provide accommodation free of charge for the general public. If the former would extend the existing accommodation to other than their passengers, and thus do their part towards satisfying a want which they have helped to create; and if the latter would provide it for their customers in both instances at a fixed charge, the necessities of a large section of the public would be met more particularly in this parish, in which there are so many railway stations. But inasmuch as there are railway stations in some parts only of the metropolis, and some of them have not accessible waiting-rooms, there remains the multitude to whom public closets are a necessity, whichonly a Vestry or District Board can be expected to supply. Of that multitude, whilst many are poor women who minister to the wants of others in a parish and therefore deserve some consideration, not a few are ratepayers; and inasmuch as women, by the payment of rates, contribute to the parochial funds, justice demands that they should share the conveniences procurable by the expenditure of those funds.
Many vestries recognise the need of conveniences for women, but do not see their way to carry out the recommendations of their Medical Officers of Health in the matter. Hitherto, whenever attention has been directed to the question, it has been sympathetically discussed, and has afterwards been quietly shelved. Surely the time has come, when the problem should be solved. Its solution, which must happen sooner or later, does not involve any great expenditure; and that expenditure, if judicious, would in all probability be amply remunerative. The closets at the Waterloo Station yield £1000 each year, and those at Cannon Street and Charing Cross each a still larger sum. Much will depend upon the completeness of the arrangements and upon the management and care subsequently bestowed upon them.
Intimately connected with this question is that of urinal and water accommodation for men. In the matter of the first mentioned, the Londoners of today are much worse off than those of preceding generations, Owing to the removal of the conveniences which formerly existed outside every public house, there is nowadays, with a greatly increased demand, a greatly diminished supply. Here again, the remark holds good that publicans cannot fairly be expected to provide accommodation for the general public. It is enough for them to meet the wants of their own customers. In the parish of Paddington, with an area of 1,280 acres, with its 44 miles of roads, and with a population of 110,000 inhabitants, which is augmented during the day by tens of thousands of persons passing to and from no fewer than six railway stations, and in close proximity to others, there are only eight public urinals. As a general rule, at every cab rank there should be a urinal, with W.C. accommodattion of two kinds, and for two classes, in charge of an attendant during the day, and of a policeman during the night. The convenience of this arrangement must be obvious to everyone. Some years have elapsed since a Sub-Committee of the Vestry adopted Dr. Hardwicke's recommendations and reported that at least 5 more urinals, as well as W.C. accommodation for both sexes, should be provided. Suitable sites were selected, and other valuable suggestions were offered by my predecessor, which it is not necessary to recapitulate. Little, however, has been done in the matter of the one, and nothing in that of the other.
Respecting that accommodation, the question remains:-
III. How can it best be supplied?
The nature of the accommodation is understood. Besides closets, there should be a retiring room, in which children could be attended to, and another supplied with wash-hand basins and other toilet requisites. To meet these requirements in the metropolis, in some instances special erections would be necessary, in others existing buildings could be reconstructed and utilised. In some parishes waiting rooms might perhaps be conveniently placed within the precincts of the workhouse, or of almshouses; or they mighht be attached to the public baths and washhouses, or other buildings which belong to to the parish. In the form of lodges at the entrances to parks, of public gardens, of public recreation grounds, of cemeteries, of burial grounds, and of bridges, there will be found suitable situations. In some streets there are recessess or small vacant plots of ground, which might be turned to account. At all churches and chapel necessary accommodation should be provided for worshippers. This is done by the Presbyterian, and to some extent, by other denominations.
Unless in the form of lodges when more space would, in general, be available, the closets should be in the rear of a building, and on a level with the street, thus avoiding stairs, and facilitating ingress and egress. The yard containing the closets, and admitting of their ventilation, shoul be covered in with glass, as at the railway stations, in order ot keep it always dry, and to secure privacy, as well as to prevent anything unsightly to the neighbours on either side. On the ground floor should be a private waiting room, and also a room for the accommodation of nurses; upstairs there might be a lavatory, with hot and cold water, for the use of which a separate charge could be made.
It is imperative that the provision made should be of two kinds, and for two classes - for those who are willing, and for those who are unable, to pay for the accommodcation. It is only reasonable that those who directly contribute to the cost and maintenance of public conveniences should have better accommodation, if it be attainable, than those who do not pay anything. Moreover, women of the middle class will not be willing to company, for however short a time, with a promiscuous crowd, even of their own sex.
The first-class closets should be lined with white glazed tiles, the doors having a patent registering lock to show how often the closet has been used. The free closets should be lined with dark glazed bricks. A common stoneware glazed pan, with flushing rim and S trap fixed to the neck of the pan above the floor line, would probably be the best arrangement. The control of the water supply might, possibly with advantages, be let in the hands of the care-taker, whose duty it would be to examine and to flush the closets every time they were used.
At first the closets might be ranged on opposite sides of the yard, which should bge divided lengthways, by a stout glass screen, and afterwards if necessary they could be placed in a row back to back down the middle. Separate drainage should be provided, for the two classes of closets, lest one or other of them should at any time be blocked.
"Public lavatories for women," or "Waiting rooms for women," or by whatever name they may be designated, should have separate entrances, marked 1st and 2nd class, the latter leading to the free closets. Subject to frequent inspection on the part of the Sanitary Authorities, they must be under the constant care of a reliable woman, whose duty it would be, to keep them scrupulously clean, to preserve order, and to acount for the money received from those who pay for the accommodation.
The buildings might be made readily distinguishable by a coloured lamp, and should be situated in the main lines of traffic, or within sight of them; such being, indicated by the omnibus routes. If they are placed in too prominent situations, in the middle of the streets, as has been suggested - like the cabman's shelter - or next door to a public house, or if they are hidden in back streets, they will be of little use, or will be frequented by those chiefly who will find a pleasure in making them additional nuisances to the parish.
Whether the premises required by a Vestry for the contemplated conveniences should be leasehold or freehold, whether they should include a shop for the sale exclusively of articles of feminine attire, or a cloak room, or a tea room, or a room supplied with newspapers, and writing materials, or for any other purposes, such as a servants' registry &c. are questions which must be determined by the different circumstances of different localities.
In Paddington the principal lines of traffic are the Edgware and Uxbridge Roads, which on two sides form the boundaries of the parish; and Praed Street, Harrow Road, Bishop's Road, and Westbourne grove, by which it may be said to be intersected. To these thoroughfares all others in the parish converge; and in them, or in close proximity to them, these conveniences should be placed. Suitable places for waiting rooms might be found, within sigh of the Edgware Road, in Star Street, or Titchborne Street; in the Uxbridge Road, at the entrances to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens; in Harrow Road, at Paddington Green and at the Workhouse; and for the accommodation of persons, when in the neighbourhood of Bishop's road and of Westbourne Grove, in Pickering Place, or at the Public Baths and Washhouses in Queen's Road.
In certain parts of the country, primitive habits are sitll practised, and the calls of nature are obeyed sub frigido Jove. Water closets, cattle troughs, drinking fountains and other similar contrivances are the expression of an advanced civilization. Is it too much to ask, that the Parish of Paddington, which claims a place in the forefront of that advance, should in a spirit of honourable rivalry, show to other localities, less richly endowed, how, not only to its own parishioners, but to all who wait upon its wants, every reasonable obligation can best be discharged? Such a rivalry in its inception, in its progress, and in its results, would be alike creditable to the parish and advantageous to the country.
In legislative matters, parochial, municipal, or parliamentary, the wisdom of statesmanship is seen in the prompt adoption of measuresbased upon a just appreciation present necessities, and upon a correct estimate of future proababilities.
JAMES STEVENSON, M.D.
Medical Officer of Health for Paddington
VESTRY HALL, PADDINGTON
March 1879
Thursday, 9 August 2012
A Petition
To Vestry
of St. George Hanover Sq., November
3rd 1857
The
Petition of the Inhabitants of Grosvenor St. West and the vicinity against the
proposed erection of a public urinal opposite Her Majesty's private entrance to
Buckingham Palace.
Humbly
herewith the petitioners view with considerable alarm and strong feelings of
disgust the proposed erection for the following reasons:
Firstly,
The position is unsuitable and ill chosen.
Secondly,
It is not required by the cabmen there being a closet at each Public House at
either end of the cab rank there never being more than 12 cabs on the rank.
Thirdly
There are several milliner's establishments overlooking the spot and on account
of the young ladies employed it would be open to great objection.
Fourthly,
Being in the direct road of Her Majesty and the Inhabitants of Belgravia it
woud certainly cause a diversion of the traffic to the detriment of many of
your petitioners.
Fifthly:
The Class for whose accommodation it is designed not having very refined
notions of public decency continual annoyance to residents would be an
inevitable result.
And for
many other and solid reasons which your petitioners could explain personally if
permitted they pray that they may be spared the infliction.
Yours, etc.
[followed by about 150 signatories]
Sunday, 5 August 2012
Well formed, but flabby.
The appellant examined, speaking of his failure during the marriage
trip, said he attributed it to nervousness and his comparative weakness
of health at the time. During the marriage trip there was no appearance
of coldness or change of demeanour on the part of his wife. When they
returned to Bombay, it was the season, and his wife went to a good many
balls and made violent love to more than one person. What took place at
the Byculla ball (14th of February, 1878) was the culminating point. He
spoke to his wife quietly but severely. She defied him at first to
interfere in any way, but afterwards to a certain extent was humbled. In the month of January, 1878, there were days at a time
when she never spoke to him. After February (before the Byculla ball),
she proposed they should occupy separate beds. They continued to sleep
apart, and then they went on a visit to Kurrachee. In January, he had
tried to have connection and found he was not sufficiently strong, and
again he tried towards the end of that month, but when he was about to
have connection gradual weakness came on and failure. Before they went
to Kurrachee, he said to his wife: “This is a miserable life to lead,
and is it to go on for ever?” “You had reason to complain at the
beginning of our marriage, but things are altered now,” and he asked her
to be friends. She said: “It is better as it is.” From that time
forward she never received an advance by way of caress or kindness from
him in a cordial way.
When they went to Kurrachee, there was a room set apart for them, in which there was but one bed. She refused to sleep with him on the night of their arrival. He slept that night on the sofa. The rest of the time they slept together, he insisted on that, as he said he would not sleep on the sofa, but he said he would not touch her. He said that because the previous evening when she so decidedly said she would not sleep in the same bed with him, he said again “Cannot we make this matter up” &c., “If we were friends we might have a child and things would go better.” She said in the strongest way that if she had a child she would hate it, and that she would not sleep with him. When he spoke of having a child he believed his capacity had improved, and that he could have done his duty as a husband. At Kurrachee he made no attempt, nor ever afterwards, because her whole conduct to him was repeatedly antagonistic, insulting and disagreeable; it was the very last thing he would have thought of. He never heard until this action was raised that she complained of his failure of duty. Dr. Sidney Smith came to know of his failure and gave him some prescriptions which he did not take, because at that time his wife's conduct had done away with all affection for her.
Cross-examined:—He never had connection with his wife or with any other woman before or after his marriage. His wife was a very handsome young woman. As a boy he had been addicted to a vicious practice, but did not continue it after fifteen years of age and the practice then entirely ceased. Even after there was a coldness between him and his wife, she did not repel his advances. He never approached her or tried to have connection. It was impossible for him to say when or where he offered to make it up with her, but she would not let him embrace or kiss her.
The respondent examined:—She had become attached to the appellant. On the first night after the marriage he made only one attempt to have connection with her. He made later other attempts. She never resisted him in any way. All the remark he made was that he was nervous. From the time they returned to Bombay from the honeymoon till they left for Kurrachee the appellant endeavoured to have connection with her at intervals of two or three nights, but he never succeeded. The last time the appellant attempted to have connection with her was in February—not after the night of the Byculla ball. He never asked her to let him try again, or did anything to indicate that he was desirous of trying again. She did not think she was willing just at first after the ball to have allowed him to attempt to have connection, because she had got a dislike to him owing to the treatment she thought she had received from him. He never afterwards told her he was changed in his physical condition. They slept together when they arrived in Scotland until June, 1879, and all that time the appellant never attempted to have connection or proposed such a thing to her. When they arrived in Scotland her feelings towards the appellant had changed, she had ceased to have affection for him. Just before the Byculla ball she desired to sleep alone because of the heat. The appellant did complain to her that she was changed to him. At Kurrachee she refused to sleep in the same bed with him, because they had been occupying different beds. Her feeling of dislike to him was growing. She was very determined the first night at Kurrachee she should not sleep with him. All the other nights they slept in the same bed. He insisted on sleeping with her contrary to her wish.
Cross-examined. She began to feel the first coldness for him in January. She was fond of gaiety. At the Byculla ball, the appellant accused her of flirting with one gentleman. In the beginning of February she did not like her husband, and she was afraid she shewed her dislike by speech and action. The coldness between them never disappeared. When in Scotland she did not treat her husband any better than she had before. She never made any complaint to any one of her husband until she was asked by a lady (with whom she then resided) after her husband had left her. She raised the present action because of the action brought against her, as she thought her husband was not blameless altogether, and that she should not bear both his share of blame and her own: she also wished to be free. She saw her law agent about the cause of her husband leaving her. She thought she gave him to understand that her treatment of her husband had arisen from his failure to consummate the marriage. The raising an action against him on that ground was spoken of.
Her law agent, in his examination, said the respondent told him that the usual intercourse had not taken place, and that it was her husband's fault. He obtained an opinion from counsel. Undoubtedly the respondent's unmarried sisters' interests, and the publicity of an action such as this, affected largely the consideration for leaving the thing over.
Three doctors were examined for the respondent and two for the appellant. The evidence of those for the respondent was substantially as follows:—Dr. Joseph Bell said he examined the appellant and found him a well formed, healthy looking man. His sexual organs well formed, but flabby. Vicious practice tends to the premature exhaustion of the sexual organs. The appellant had an erection on each of two unsuccessful attempts, and an emission on the second, that was just the common case, insufficient erection and a too early emission. That is what they mean by impotency, where the organs are properly formed. Cross-examined. He believed if the appellant was encouraged, and had plenty of time and was not nervous, and if a little champagne were given him beforehand, he might succeed with any other woman; but after his failures it would be more difficult with his wife.
Dr. Angus Macdonald said the opportunities recorded in the evidence were far too numerous to account for the failure without a distinct defect in virile power. The worst cases of impotence in the male were where they found transient erections with emission before there is time for penetration.
Dr. Keiller said he was strongly of opinion from the evidence, and the fact of the appellant's age, his continence, and his former vicious practice that permanent impotency existed. Cross-examined. He had known cases where attempts at consummation had been made for months before complete success.
Dr. Gardner examined on behalf of the appellant, said he believed the appellant was incapable at the date of his marriage to the extent he himself confessed; but his belief was that if the lady had given him proper opportunities, he would have come to it after a limited time. It was not at all unusual for a man to fail within the first few weeks of his marriage, and it was especially likely to occur where a continent man marries late in life. Dr. Gillespie gave a somewhat similar opinion.
Dr. Sidney Smith, examined by commission for the pursuer, said the appellant told him he had failed. He prescribed for him. He saw him on the 31st of January, and also on the 18th and 23rd of February, and also on the 25th, 26th, and 27th of March, 1878. He asked him on one of these occasions whether there was any reciprocity on the part of his wife, or whether he got the “cold shoulder.” He said certainly, she would not allow him to come near her. On another occasion he said to the appellant, how were they to know whether the medicine was doing him any good, if there were no means of proving it. He also suggested to the appellant that there was probably some disappointment on the part of his wife, which, if he exercised a little tact might pass off. As far as he recollected, the appellant told him that whenever he did make an attempt to consummate the marriage there was no result. Subsequent to the 25th of February, the appellant told him that his wife would not have him come near her.
When they went to Kurrachee, there was a room set apart for them, in which there was but one bed. She refused to sleep with him on the night of their arrival. He slept that night on the sofa. The rest of the time they slept together, he insisted on that, as he said he would not sleep on the sofa, but he said he would not touch her. He said that because the previous evening when she so decidedly said she would not sleep in the same bed with him, he said again “Cannot we make this matter up” &c., “If we were friends we might have a child and things would go better.” She said in the strongest way that if she had a child she would hate it, and that she would not sleep with him. When he spoke of having a child he believed his capacity had improved, and that he could have done his duty as a husband. At Kurrachee he made no attempt, nor ever afterwards, because her whole conduct to him was repeatedly antagonistic, insulting and disagreeable; it was the very last thing he would have thought of. He never heard until this action was raised that she complained of his failure of duty. Dr. Sidney Smith came to know of his failure and gave him some prescriptions which he did not take, because at that time his wife's conduct had done away with all affection for her.
Cross-examined:—He never had connection with his wife or with any other woman before or after his marriage. His wife was a very handsome young woman. As a boy he had been addicted to a vicious practice, but did not continue it after fifteen years of age and the practice then entirely ceased. Even after there was a coldness between him and his wife, she did not repel his advances. He never approached her or tried to have connection. It was impossible for him to say when or where he offered to make it up with her, but she would not let him embrace or kiss her.
The respondent examined:—She had become attached to the appellant. On the first night after the marriage he made only one attempt to have connection with her. He made later other attempts. She never resisted him in any way. All the remark he made was that he was nervous. From the time they returned to Bombay from the honeymoon till they left for Kurrachee the appellant endeavoured to have connection with her at intervals of two or three nights, but he never succeeded. The last time the appellant attempted to have connection with her was in February—not after the night of the Byculla ball. He never asked her to let him try again, or did anything to indicate that he was desirous of trying again. She did not think she was willing just at first after the ball to have allowed him to attempt to have connection, because she had got a dislike to him owing to the treatment she thought she had received from him. He never afterwards told her he was changed in his physical condition. They slept together when they arrived in Scotland until June, 1879, and all that time the appellant never attempted to have connection or proposed such a thing to her. When they arrived in Scotland her feelings towards the appellant had changed, she had ceased to have affection for him. Just before the Byculla ball she desired to sleep alone because of the heat. The appellant did complain to her that she was changed to him. At Kurrachee she refused to sleep in the same bed with him, because they had been occupying different beds. Her feeling of dislike to him was growing. She was very determined the first night at Kurrachee she should not sleep with him. All the other nights they slept in the same bed. He insisted on sleeping with her contrary to her wish.
Cross-examined. She began to feel the first coldness for him in January. She was fond of gaiety. At the Byculla ball, the appellant accused her of flirting with one gentleman. In the beginning of February she did not like her husband, and she was afraid she shewed her dislike by speech and action. The coldness between them never disappeared. When in Scotland she did not treat her husband any better than she had before. She never made any complaint to any one of her husband until she was asked by a lady (with whom she then resided) after her husband had left her. She raised the present action because of the action brought against her, as she thought her husband was not blameless altogether, and that she should not bear both his share of blame and her own: she also wished to be free. She saw her law agent about the cause of her husband leaving her. She thought she gave him to understand that her treatment of her husband had arisen from his failure to consummate the marriage. The raising an action against him on that ground was spoken of.
Her law agent, in his examination, said the respondent told him that the usual intercourse had not taken place, and that it was her husband's fault. He obtained an opinion from counsel. Undoubtedly the respondent's unmarried sisters' interests, and the publicity of an action such as this, affected largely the consideration for leaving the thing over.
Three doctors were examined for the respondent and two for the appellant. The evidence of those for the respondent was substantially as follows:—Dr. Joseph Bell said he examined the appellant and found him a well formed, healthy looking man. His sexual organs well formed, but flabby. Vicious practice tends to the premature exhaustion of the sexual organs. The appellant had an erection on each of two unsuccessful attempts, and an emission on the second, that was just the common case, insufficient erection and a too early emission. That is what they mean by impotency, where the organs are properly formed. Cross-examined. He believed if the appellant was encouraged, and had plenty of time and was not nervous, and if a little champagne were given him beforehand, he might succeed with any other woman; but after his failures it would be more difficult with his wife.
Dr. Angus Macdonald said the opportunities recorded in the evidence were far too numerous to account for the failure without a distinct defect in virile power. The worst cases of impotence in the male were where they found transient erections with emission before there is time for penetration.
Dr. Keiller said he was strongly of opinion from the evidence, and the fact of the appellant's age, his continence, and his former vicious practice that permanent impotency existed. Cross-examined. He had known cases where attempts at consummation had been made for months before complete success.
Dr. Gardner examined on behalf of the appellant, said he believed the appellant was incapable at the date of his marriage to the extent he himself confessed; but his belief was that if the lady had given him proper opportunities, he would have come to it after a limited time. It was not at all unusual for a man to fail within the first few weeks of his marriage, and it was especially likely to occur where a continent man marries late in life. Dr. Gillespie gave a somewhat similar opinion.
Dr. Sidney Smith, examined by commission for the pursuer, said the appellant told him he had failed. He prescribed for him. He saw him on the 31st of January, and also on the 18th and 23rd of February, and also on the 25th, 26th, and 27th of March, 1878. He asked him on one of these occasions whether there was any reciprocity on the part of his wife, or whether he got the “cold shoulder.” He said certainly, she would not allow him to come near her. On another occasion he said to the appellant, how were they to know whether the medicine was doing him any good, if there were no means of proving it. He also suggested to the appellant that there was probably some disappointment on the part of his wife, which, if he exercised a little tact might pass off. As far as he recollected, the appellant told him that whenever he did make an attempt to consummate the marriage there was no result. Subsequent to the 25th of February, the appellant told him that his wife would not have him come near her.
extract from G v M (1884-85) L.R. 10 Appeal Cases 171
By wound from the spur of a Game Cock.
1 Death from hanging while suffering from delirium tremens.
2 Inflammation of Brain of a child, accelerated by neglect of mother in not getting medical aid.
3 Strangulation while insane.
4 Lock-jaw, caused by wound from the spur of a Game Cock.
5 Suffocation in bed.
6 Falling down a ship's hold.
7 Sudden death from excessive drinking.
8 Disease of Lungs and Heart.
9 Manslaughter against some person or persons unknown.
10 Newly born Male Infant found dead—Wilful Murder against some person or persons unknown.
11 Fracture of skull at Ratcliff Gas Works.
12 Suffocation in bed—an Infant.
13 Drowning in the London Docks.
14 Suffocation in a Barge.
15 Extravasation of blood on brain from a fall.
16 Suffocation in bed—an Infant.
17 Ditto.
18 Drowning in water of London Docks.
19 Sudden death—ulceration of stomach with perforation, accelerated by herb powders administered by a herbalist.
20 Excessive drinking.
21 Suffocation in bed—an Infant.
22 Drowning while of unsound mind.
23 From exposure and want—a Chinaman.
24 Poisoning by Sulphate of Copper
25 Congestion of the Lungs.
26 Compound fracture of the scull from falling down a ships hold.
27 Fractured scull on board ship.
28 Found dead—Post Mortem—Diseased heart
29 Run over by a sugar truck.
30 Thrown from cart while drunk.
31 Cutting her throat while insane
32 Run over by a cart.
33 Drowned in London Docks.
34 Sudden death—Male child—Convulsions
35 Male Child—Exposure to cold.
36 Suffocation in bed—Female Child.
37 Sudden death—Post Mortem—Pleurisy.
38. Ditto.—Paralysis.
30 Suffocation in bed—Female child.
40 Ditto. — while parents were drunk.
41 Sudden death—engorged Lungs—Post Mortem.
42 Fractured scull—falling down a ships hold.
43 Epilepsy.
44 Suffocation in bed—A child.
45 Ditto.
2 Inflammation of Brain of a child, accelerated by neglect of mother in not getting medical aid.
3 Strangulation while insane.
4 Lock-jaw, caused by wound from the spur of a Game Cock.
5 Suffocation in bed.
6 Falling down a ship's hold.
7 Sudden death from excessive drinking.
8 Disease of Lungs and Heart.
9 Manslaughter against some person or persons unknown.
10 Newly born Male Infant found dead—Wilful Murder against some person or persons unknown.
11 Fracture of skull at Ratcliff Gas Works.
12 Suffocation in bed—an Infant.
13 Drowning in the London Docks.
14 Suffocation in a Barge.
15 Extravasation of blood on brain from a fall.
16 Suffocation in bed—an Infant.
17 Ditto.
18 Drowning in water of London Docks.
19 Sudden death—ulceration of stomach with perforation, accelerated by herb powders administered by a herbalist.
20 Excessive drinking.
21 Suffocation in bed—an Infant.
22 Drowning while of unsound mind.
23 From exposure and want—a Chinaman.
24 Poisoning by Sulphate of Copper
25 Congestion of the Lungs.
26 Compound fracture of the scull from falling down a ships hold.
27 Fractured scull on board ship.
28 Found dead—Post Mortem—Diseased heart
29 Run over by a sugar truck.
30 Thrown from cart while drunk.
31 Cutting her throat while insane
32 Run over by a cart.
33 Drowned in London Docks.
34 Sudden death—Male child—Convulsions
35 Male Child—Exposure to cold.
36 Suffocation in bed—Female Child.
37 Sudden death—Post Mortem—Pleurisy.
38. Ditto.—Paralysis.
30 Suffocation in bed—Female child.
40 Ditto. — while parents were drunk.
41 Sudden death—engorged Lungs—Post Mortem.
42 Fractured scull—falling down a ships hold.
43 Epilepsy.
44 Suffocation in bed—A child.
45 Ditto.
a list of Coroner's inquests for the year,
from Medical Officer of Health's Report for 1860, St. George in the East, 1860
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