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Eradicating
Filth: Public Health in Victorian Times
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At the Crown Inn on Carribbee Island lived John Bennett the landlord, his wife Susannah, his son John Robert, two servants and six other people - 11 people in total. And at Number 8 Carribbee Island lived Michael McHale, an Irishman, with his wife Catherine and thirteen other people - 15 people in total. With so many living in one house it is not surprising that disease spread quickly, often claiming large numbers of lives.
In response to the Chadwick Report, Wolverhampton sent a petition to the General Board of Health signed a tenth of the rated inhabitants of Wolverhampton as required by the Public Health Act (1848), for an inquiry into the state of Wolverhampton, Bilston, Wednesfield and Willenhall. The result was the Report to the General Board of Health: 1849. Robert Rawlinson, the author, took evidence from various people and also inspected the area himself. Mr Edward Banks, Architect, gave evidence of many streets with only surface drains, and where under drains did exist they were inadequate.
Extract from Rawlinson Report, page 19 (L614) He goes on to give evidence of inhabitants having to have soil tanks to take the contents of their water closets, which in a number of cases were neglected and oozing liquid manure!
Extract from Rawlinson Report, page 19 (L614) Robert Rawlinson also personally inspected Wolverhampton where he found middens, pig-sties and open stagnant ditches. He found further evidence of overcrowding with an average of 9 or more people per household. He came upon privies "so disgustingly filthy" that they were unfit for use, and when he inspected the area of Carribbee Island he found "ruinous cottages" with no drains or sewers or even a water supply. A medical gentleman accompanying Mr Rawlinson described the area as a complete "fever nest".
Extract from Rawlinson Report, page 19 (L614) Robert Rawlinson's
report was eventually produced in 1849 and was entitled "Report
to the General Board of Health on a Preliminary Inquiry into Sewerage,
Drainage, and the Supply of Water, and the Sanitary Conditions of
the Inhabitants of the Borough of Wolverhampton, and the Townships
of Bilston, Willenhall, and Wednesfield." The report made a
number of recommendations and outlined that Wolverhampton was an
unhealthy place to live, and liable to epidemic
and endemic diseases.
He reported that excess disease could be traced to closed and confined
courts, overcrowded tenements, want of sewers,
Reports such as this helped to put public health on the local agenda and following a report by the Borough of Wolverhampton General Purposes Committee in September 1850 the roles of various committees were decided including the Health of Towns Committee and the Streets and Sewerage Committee.
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