Chapter XVII: Appendix (7)

The condition of large rural districts in the immediate vicinity of the towns, and of the poorest districts of the towns themselves, presents a singular contrast in the nature of the agencies by which the health of the inhabitants is impaired. Within the towns we find the houses and streets filthy, the air fœtid, disease, typhus, and other epidemics rife amongst the population, bringing, in the train, destitution and the need of pecuniary as well as medical relief; all mainly arising from the presence of the richest materials of production, the complete absence of which would, in a great measure, restore health, avert the recurrence of disease, and, if properly applied, would promote abundance, cheapen food, and increase the demand for beneficial labour. Outside the afflicted districts, and at a short distance from them, as in the adjacent rural districts, we find the aspect of the country poor and thinly clad with vegetation, except rushes and plants favoured by a superabundance of moisture, the crops meagre, the labouring agricultural population few, and afflicted with rheumatism and other maladies, arising from damp and an excess of water, which, if removed, would relieve them from a cause of disease, the land from an impediment to production, and if conveyed for the use of the town population, would give that population the element of which they stand in peculiar need, as a means to relieve them from that which is their own cause of depression, and return it for use on the land as a means of the highest fertility. The fact of the existence of these evils, and that they are removable is not more certain than that their removal would be attended by reductions of existing burdens, and might be rendered productive of general advantage, if due means, guided by science, and applied by properly qualified officers, be resorted to. The impediments arising from the existing state of the law and of its local administration, form a subject for separate representation.

Before stating the cost in life and money attributable to the noxious causes external to the dwelling, it is desirable to notice other noxious causes, within the recognised province of legislative interference, that appear to be similarly under control, namely, the overcrowding of places where large numbers are assembled together, such as the overcrowding of places of work.

III.—CIRCUMSTANCES CHIEFLY IN THE INTERNAL ECONOMY AND BAD VENTILATION OF PLACES OF WORK; WORKMEN’S LODGING-HOUSES, DWELLINGS, AND THE DOMESTIC HABITS AFFECTING THE HEALTH OF THE LABOURING CLASSES.

The evils arising from the bad ventilation of places of work will probably be most distinctly brought to view, by the consideration of the evidence as to its effects on one particular class of workpeople.

The frequency of cases of early deaths, and orphanage, and widowhood amongst one class of labourers, the journeymen tailors, led me to make some inquiries as to the causes affecting them; and I submit the following evidence for peculiar consideration, as an illustration of the operation of one predominant cause;—bad ventilation or overcrowding, and the consequences on the moral habits, the loss of healthful existence and happiness to the labourer, the loss of profit to the employer, and of produce to the community, and the loss in expenditure for the relief of the destitution, which original cause (the bad ventilation) we have high scientific authority for stating to be easily and economically controllable.

_Mr. Thomas Brownlow_, tailor, aged 52:—

“It is stated that you have been a journeyman tailor, and now work for
yourself. At what description of places have you worked?—I have always
worked at the largest places in London; one part of my time I worked
at Messrs Allen’s, of Old Bond-street, where I worked eight years; at
another part of my time I worked at Messrs. Stultze’s, in
Clifford-street, where I worked four years. At Messrs. Allen’s they
had then from 80 to 100 men at work; at Messrs. Stultze’s they had,
when I worked there, about 250 men.

“Will you describe the places of work, and the effects manifested in
the health of the workmen?—The place in which we used to work at
Messrs. Allen’s was a room where 80 men worked together. It was a room
about 16 or 18 yards long, and 7 or 8 yards wide, lighted with
skylights; the men were close together, nearly knee to knee. In summer
time the heat of the men and the heat of the irons made the room 20 or
30 degrees higher than the heat outside; the heat was then most
suffocating, especially after the candles were lighted. I have known
young men, tailors from the country, faint away in the shop from the
excessive heat and closeness; persons, working-men, coming into the
shop to see some of the men, used to complain of the heat, and also of
the smell as intolerable; the smell occasioned by the heat of the
irons and the various breaths of the men really was at times
intolerable. The men sat as loosely as they possibly could, and the
perspiration ran from them from the heat and the closeness. It is of
frequent occurrence in such workshops that light suits of clothes are
spoiled from the perspiration of the hand, and the dust and flue which
arises darkening the work. I have seen 40_l._ or 50_l._ worth of work
spoiled in the course of the summer season from this cause.

“In what condition are these work-places in winter?—They are more
unhealthy in winter, as the heat from the candles and the closeness is
much greater. Any cold currents of air which come in give annoyance to
those who are sitting near the draught. There is continued squabbling
as to the windows being opened; those who are near the windows, and
who do not feel the heat so much as the men near the stoves, objecting
to their being opened. The oldest, who had been inured to the heat,
did not like the cold, and generally prevailed in keeping out the cold
or the fresh air. Such has been the state of the atmosphere, that in
the very coldest nights large thick tallow candles (quarter of a pound
candles) have melted and fallen over from the heat.

“What was the effect of this state of the work-places upon the habits
of the workmen?—It had a very depressing effect on the energies; that
was the general complaint of those who came into it. Many could not
stay out the hours, and went away earlier. Those who were not
accustomed to the places generally lost appetite. The natural effect
of the depression was, that we had recourse to drink as a stimulant.
We went into the shop at six o’clock in the morning; but at seven
o’clock when orders for the breakfast were called for, gin was brought
in, and the common allowance was half-a-quartern. The younger hands
did not begin with gin.

“Was gin the first thing taken before any solid food was taken?—Yes,
and the breakfast was very light; those who took gin generally took
only half-a-pint of tea and half a twopenny loaf as breakfast.

“When again was liquor brought in?—At eleven o’clock.

“What was taken then?—Some took beer, some took gin again. In a
general way, they took a pint of porter at eleven o’clock. It was
seldom the men took more than the half-quartern of gin.

“When again was liquor brought in?—At three o’clock, when some took
beer and some gin, just the same as in the morning. At five o’clock
the beer and gin came in again, and was usually taken in the same
quantities. At seven o’clock the shop was closed.

“After work was there any drinking?—Yes; nearly all the young men went
to the public-house, and some of the others.

“What were the wages they received?—Sixpence per hour, which, at the
full work, made 6s. a-day, or 36s. a-week.

“Did they make any reserves from this amount of wages?—No; very few
had anything for themselves at the end of the week.

“How much of the habit of drinking was produced by the state of the
work-place?—I should say the greater part of it; because when men work
by themselves, or only two or three together, in cooler and less close
places, there is scarcely any drinking between times. Nearly all this
drinking proceeds from the large shops, where the men are crowded
together in close rooms: it is the same in the shops in the country,
as well as those in the town. In a rural place, the tailor, where he
works by himself, or with only two or three together, takes very
little of the fermented liquor or spirits which the men feel
themselves under a sort of necessity for doing in towns. The closer
the ventilation of the place of work, the worse are the habits of the
men working in them.

“You referred to the practice of one large shop where you worked some
time since; was that the general practice, and has there been no
alteration?—It was and is now the general practice. Of late, since
coffee has become cheaper, somewhat more of coffee and less of beer
has been bought in; but there is as much gin now brought in between
times, and sometimes more.

“What would be the effect of an alteration of the place of work—a
ventilation which would give them a better atmosphere?—It would,
without doubt, have an immediately beneficial effect on the habits. It
might not cure those who have got into the habit of drinking; but the
men would certainly drink less, and the younger ones would not be led
into the habit so forcibly as they are.

“What is the general effect of this state of things upon the health of
the men exposed to them?—Great numbers of them die of consumption. “A
decline” is the general disease of which they die. By their own rules,
a man at 50 years of age is superannuated, and is thought not to be
fit to do a full day’s work.

“What was the average of the ages of the men at work at such shops as
those you have worked at?—Thirty-two, or thereabouts.

“In such shops were there many superannuated men, or men above 50
years of age?—Very few. Amongst the tailors employed in the shops, I
should say there were not 10 men in the hundred above 50 years of age.

“When they die, what becomes of their widows and children, as they
seldom make any reserve of wages?—No provision is made for the
families; nothing is heard of them, and, if they cannot provide for
themselves, they must go upon the parish.

“Are these habits created by the closeness of the rooms, attended by
carelessness as to their mode of living elsewhere?—I think not as to
their lodgings. The English and Scotch tailors are more careful as to
their places of lodging, and prefer sleeping in an open place. The
men, however, who take their pint of porter and their pipe of tobacco
in a public-house after their hours of work, take it at a place which
is sometimes as crowded as a shop. Here the single men will stay until
bedtime.

“Are gin and beer the only stimulants which you conceive are taken in
consequence of the want of ventilation and the state of the place of
work when crowded?—No: snuff is very much taken as a stimulant; the
men think snuff has a beneficial effect on the eyes. After going into
these close shops from the open air, the first sensation experienced
is frequently a sensation of drowsiness, then a sort of itching or
uneasiness at the eye, then a dimness of the sight. Some men of the
strongest sight will complain of this dimness; all eyes are affected
much in a similar manner. Snuff is much used as a stimulant to awaken
them up; smoking in the shops is not approved of, though it is much
attempted; and the journeymen tailors of the large shops are in
general great smokers at the public-houses.

“Do the tailors from villages take snuff or smoke as well as drink so
much as the tailors in the large shops in the towns?—They neither take
so much snuff nor tobacco, nor so much of any of the stimulants, as
are taken by the workmen in the crowded shops of the towns.

“Do their eyes fail them as soon?—No, certainly not.

“With the tailors, is it the eye that fails first?—Yes; after long
hours of work the first thing complained of by the tailors is that the
eyes fail; the sight becomes dim, and a sort of mist comes between
them and their work.

“Judging from your own practical experience, how long do you conceive
that a man would work in a well-ventilated or uncrowded room, as
compared with a close, crowded, ill-ventilated room?—I think it would
make a difference of two hours in the day to a man. He would, for
example, be able, in an uncrowded or well-ventilated room, to do his
twelve hours’ work in the twelve hours; whereas in the close-crowded
room he would not do more than ten hours’ work in the twelve.

“Of two men beginning at 20 years of age, what would be the difference
in extent of labour performed by them in town shops or in the
country?—A man who had begun at 20 in these crowded shops would not be
so good a man at 40 as a man working to 50 in a country village; of
the two, the country tailor would be in the best condition in health
and strength: in point of fact he is so. The difference may be set
down as a gain of 10 years’ good labour. There are very few who can
stand such work as the town shops 20 years.

“The eyes then become permanently injured, as well as fail during the
day, in these crowded shops?—Yes, they do. After 45 years of age, the
eyes begin to fail, and he cannot do a full day’s work.

“Supposing a workman to work in a well-ventilated room, and to be
freed from the nervous exhaustion consequent on the state of the
place, might he not save at least all that he drinks in the times
between his meals, or be enabled to apply it better, if he were so
disposed; and, perhaps, the value of the two hours’ extra work in the
12, when he is working piece-work?—Yes, certainly he might.

“Taking your account of the average loss by nervous exhaustion and bad
habits to be two hours’ work for 20 years, and 12 hours daily work for
10 years in addition, supposing him to be employed full time, it would
be a loss of the value of 50,000 hours of productive labour (of the
value at 6_d._ per hour, 1,250_l._); or, if he were only in work half
a-year, at a loss of 25,000 hours; so that if he were employed the
half time at the full wages, or full time at the half wages, such
workmen will have lost the means of putting by a sum of not less than
600_l._ to maintain him in comfort when he is no longer able to
work?—Yes, I think that would be found to be correct. Very few do
save; but I have known some save considerable sums. I knew one man, of
the name of John Hale, who saved about 600_l._ He was not one of the
most sober men, but he was in constant employment, sometimes at
Allen’s and sometimes at Weston’s, and he was very careful; but he
died when he was about 45. I knew another man, whose name was Philip
Gray, who used to prefer the smaller shops. He was a man of a very
good constitution, and he lived until he was about 70. He was a
journeyman all his life, and he had, when he died, more than
1,500_l._, all saved by London journey work. He used to live in a
baker’s shop in Silver-street, Golden-square.

“Was he of a penurious disposition?—He associated less with the men
than others, and they knew little about him. He was dressed much the
same as the rest, but he was much more clean in his person: he was
remarkable for his cleanliness, and he was very neat in his person.
Both he and Hale were single men.

“Can you doubt that, under favourable sanitary circumstances, such
instances would become frequent?—It cannot be doubted. I have known
other instances of saving, but those were not of men working on the
board: they were mostly of men who had situations in the
cutting-rooms.”

_Mr. John Fowler_:—

“You are a tailor, are you not?—I have been all my life a journeyman
tailor, and worked in the metropolis; but I have long been
superannuated, and now act as collector to the Benevolent Institution
for the Relief of Aged and Infirm Tailors.

“That is supported by the masters, is it not?—Yes; the journeymen
tailors subscribe, but it is principally supported by masters, who
subscribe to it most liberally. Mr. Stultze, for example, has
subscribed 795_l._ in money, and is a yearly subscriber of 25 guineas.
He has made a present to the institution of the ground for the
erection of almshouses, worth about 1000_l._, and has undertaken to
build six houses at his own expense, for the reception of 20 poor
pensioners. The funds are about 11,000_l._, principally subscribed by
the masters.

“Have you belonged to any other society?—I was clerk to a trade
society, consisting of upwards of 500 men.

“Have you worked in the more crowded shops?—I have worked at Mr.
Allen’s, and Mr. William’s, of Conduit-street, which was a shop
containing about as many men as Mr. Allen’s. I have worked at other
shops, not so large as Mr. Allen’s.

“Have you read Mr. Brownlow’s evidence?—Yes, I have.

“How far do the facts generally coincide with your own
observations?—Generally they do. I agree with him as to the effects of
work in close workshops, and as to the time a man would last as a
workman, under the most favourable circumstances, in a well-ventilated
place. I do not think the drinking of gin was general, to the extent
he mentions; and I think the improvement as to drinking beer, as well
as spirits, is now very great; particularly in spirits, since tea and
coffee have been so much drank. Of late, as far as my knowledge
extends, there is very little beer-drinking in the afternoon. I knew
the individuals he mentions as having saved money, and I have known
many others do so too. Some of them have become opulent and
respectable masters, who were fellow-shopmen with me. I conceive that
the establishment of coffee-shops has been of great benefit to the
health and morals of the men: it has taken them from the public-house.
I have known a very large proportion of men carried off young, and in
middle life, by consumption; but, in general, irregular habits were
mixed up with the effects of the work in close places. The crowding of
the large shops must be considered as occurring only in the season.”

The following is the examination of a tailor in Marlborough, taken by Mr. Grainger:—

_Charles Dobson_, 58 years old,—

“Has been a tailor since he was 16 years old. Has always lived in the
country. Has two sons journeymen tailors, who have been employed in
London, one seven and the other five years. Formerly employed seven or
eight men, who worked with witness in a shop which was very close, so
that if there were nine men they could scarcely sit on the board.
Although there was very little drinking, they were so much oppressed
in the summer, and at other seasons when the candles were lighted,
that he has seen the men reel after getting off the board. Used
himself, when it was very warm, to feel faint. Attributes these
effects to the heat of the shop, arising from the closeness, the
stove, and the hot irons; also to the smell of the cloth and the
breath of the men. Latterly has worked with lower hands and in a more
open shop; finds his health better, and that he is not oppressed by
the work. Has often noticed in this town, where there are a few shops
containing, in the summer, 14 or 15 journeymen, that when men go into
them who have previously worked in the neighbouring villages, they
became pale and unhealthy-looking: attributes this to the heat. His
sons have complained to him that their health suffers from working in
large shops in London. Has seen many who have gone to London return
‘looking far worse than when they went.’ From his experience, thinks
that a man may enjoy his health in this business, if he works moderate
hours and in an airy shop, where the number is small. Should consider
12 hours, allowing out of them one hour for dinner, moderate: these
are the common hours in this part of the country. Has known many men
who have worked in the neighbouring villages; they are generally quite
as healthy as other people, ‘does not see any difference.’ They are
more strong and not so chilly as those who work in shops. Has known
many upwards of 50, who were quite able to go on with the work; they
are only obliged to give it up from failure of sight as they advance
in age: ‘from nothing else.’ Knew one man in this town who went on
till he was 77. Has himself good health.”

I have collected the evidence of several master tailors on the effects of work in crowded or bad ventilated rooms. Some are inclined to ascribe more of the ill health to the habits of the journeymen in drinking at public-houses, and to the state of their private dwellings, but in the main results the loss of daily power—_i. e._, the loss of at least one-third the industrial capabilities enjoyed by men working under advantageous circumstances—the nervous exhaustion attendant on work in crowds, and the consequent temptation to resort continually to stimulants, which in their turn increase the exhaustion, are fully proved, and indeed generally admitted. I have caused the mortuary registers to be examined, but find that they do not distinguish the masters from the journeymen, and that there are no ready means of distinguishing those of the deceased who have been employed in the larger shops. It is also stated that many who come to work in town and become diseased, return and die in the villages. But in the registered causes of death of 233 persons entered during the year 1839 in the eastern and western Unions of the metropolis, under the general head “tailor,” no less than 123 are registered as having died of disease of the respiratory organs, of whom 92 died of consumption;[13] 16 of diseases of the nervous system, of whom 8 died of apoplexy; 16 of epidemic or contagious diseases, of whom 11 died of typhus; 23 are registered as having died of diseases of “uncertain seat,” of whom 13 fell victims of dropsy; 8 died of diseases of the digestive organs, and six of “heart disease;” and of the whole number of 233 only 29 of old age; and of these, if they could be traced, we may pronounce confidently that the greater proportion of them would be found to be not journeymen, of whom not two or three per cent. attain old age, but masters. On comparing the mortuary registers in the metropolis with the registers in north-western and the south-western parts of England, where we may expect a larger proportion of men working separately, I find that whilst 53 per cent. of the men die of diseases of the respiratory organs in the metropolis, only 39 per cent. die of these diseases in the remote districts; that whilst five per cent. die. of typhus in London, only one per cent. fall victims to it in the country; that whilst in London only 12 in the hundred attain old age, 25 in the hundred are registered as having attained it in the remote districts.

It is due to Messrs. Stultze, the employers mentioned by the first witness, to state, that since he worked with them they have made considerable alterations with the view to increase the ventilation of their workshops, and have expressed their desire to adopt whatever improvements may be pointed out to them.

I have been informed, that some tailors’ workshops at Glasgow have been carefully ventilated, and that the immediate results are as satisfactory as were anticipated, but the change has been too recent to permit any estimate of the effects on the general habits of the workmen.

The preceding case may serve as a general instance of the practical difference of the effects in the saving of suffering as well as of expense, by active benevolence exerted with foresight in measures of prevention, as compared with benevolence exerted in measures of alleviation of disease after it has occurred.

The subscriptions to the benevolent institution for the relief of the aged and infirm tailors, by individual masters in the metropolis, appear to be large and liberal, and amount to upwards of 11,000_l._; yet it is to be observed, that if they or the men had been aware of the effects of vitiated atmospheres on the constitution and general strength, and of the means of ventilation, the practicable gain of money from the gain of labour by that sanitary measure could not have been less in one large shop, employing 200 men, than 100,000_l._ Independently of subscriptions of the whole trade, it would, during their working period of life, have been sufficient, with the enjoyment of greater health and comfort by every workman during the time of work, to have purchased him an annuity of 1_l._ per week for comfortable and respectable self-support during a period of superannuation, commencing soon after _fifty_ years of age.

Of that which in these instances appear to be the main cause of premature disease and death, defective ventilation, it is to be remarked that until very lately little had been observed or understood, even by professional men or men of science; and that it is only when the public health is made a matter of public care by a responsible public agency that, what is understood can be expected to be generally and effectually applied for the public protection. Vitiated air not being seen, and air which is pure in winter being cold, the cold is felt and the air is excluded by the workmen. The great desideratum hitherto has been to obtain a circulation of air which was _warm_, as well as fresh. This desideratum has been attained, after much trial, in the House of Commons; but there is reason to believe that, by various means, at an expense within the reach certainly of large places of work, a ventilation equally good might be secured with mutual advantage.

The effects of bad ventilation, it need not be pointed out, are chiefly manifested in consumption, the disease by which the greatest slaughter is committed. The causes of fever are comparatively few and prominent, but they appear to have a concurrent effect in producing consumption. The investigation of the whole of the contributary causes to the production of the immense mass of mortality occasioned by that disease, would be beyond the time or means allowed for the present inquiry; but defective ventilation and defective management in respect to changes of temperature, are causes everywhere apparent amongst the labouring classes. The effects of good ventilation, as a single cause of the prevention or alleviation of disease, are nowhere so clearly manifest as in their effects on hospital treatment. What Dr. Bisset Hawkins states in respect to the sanitary measures necessary to ensure successful treatment in hospitals, may be stated in respect to common dwellings as well as places of work.

“Next to the influence of national causes, the mortality of hospitals
is most affected by position and internal economy. These circumstances
appear more powerful than even the various merits of practice; and,
happily for mankind, they are advantages of a definite nature, easily
comprehended, and, of late years, generally demanded. The case was
formerly very different, when a singular prejudice or indifference
existed in respect to ventilation. At the Leeds hospital no case of
compound fracture, nor of trepan, survived. At the Hôtel Dieu, of
Paris, compound fractures were also almost always fatal, and few
survived amputation. The system which will bear improper air with
impunity during health becomes keenly susceptible of its mischief when
diseased, and a change of air will often restore where the strictest
diet has failed. Mortality is seldom to be assigned to the influence
of bad practice, which, probably, does not often destroy life. An
accomplished friend made particular notes on the comparative mortality
under three physicians in the same hospital; one was expectant, one
tonic, and the other eclectic. The mortality was the same, but the
length of the disorder, the character of the convalescence, and the
chances of relapse were very different.

“The earliest statement which we possess of the mortality of our
hospitals is in Sir William Petty’s work on Political Arithmetic, from
which it appears, that in the year 1685 the proportion of the deaths
to the cures in St. Bartholomew’s and St. Thomas’s hospitals was about
1 to 7. The annual printed report of St. Thomas’s hospital for 1689 is
still preserved: the mortality was then about 1 in 10. During the ten
years from 1773 to 1783, the mortality at St Thomas’s became still
smaller, it was 1 in 14. About the year 1783, some improvements were
made with respect to cleanliness and ventilation, and during the ten
subsequent years the annual deaths were accordingly still fewer than
before, less than 1 in 15. During the ten years intervening between
1803 and 1813 the improvement continued, and the proportion fell to
only 1 in 16. The average during the 50 years from 1764 to 1813 was
remarkably small, only 1 in 15.”

_Parent Du Chátelet_ notices in the following terms the diminution in the mortality of the Hôtel Dieu from better ventilation:—

“The mortality has diminished in the Hôtel Dieu in remarkable
proportions. Without saying anything of the enlargement of the
windows, of the warm clothing, of a better system of heating the
apartments, are we to count for nothing the destruction of all the
high houses which surrounded the Hôtel Dieu on every side? In our
opinion the pure and dry air which circulates now in every part, the
sun which penetrates there, the stoves which have been erected, have
as much contributed to its healthiness as the suppression of the
amphitheatres of anatomy which were in its neighbourhood.”

The reports of other hospitals present similar and generally corroborative experience. In the space of four years, ending in 1784, in a badly-ventilated house, the Lying-in Hospital in Dublin, there died 2,944 children out of 7,650; but after freer ventilation, the deaths in the same period of time, and in a like number of children, amounted only to 279.

One effect of the attention given to the condition of the workers in the factories has been, that ventilation has been extensively introduced, and with marked effects, on the condition of the workpeople. When I was at Glasgow a striking instance was pointed out to me of the beneficial effects of ventilation when applied to the dwellings of the working classes connected with such establishments. I was informed there was in that city an assemblage of dwellings for their workpeople, called, from its mode of construction and the crowd collected in it, the Barracks. This building contained 500 persons; every room contained one family. The consequences of this crowding of the apartments, which were badly ventilated, and the filth were, that fever was scarcely ever absent from the building. There were sometimes as many as seven cases in one day, and in the last two months of 1831 there were 57 cases in the building. All attempts to induce the inmates to ventilate their rooms were ineffectual, and the proprietors of the work, on the recommendation of Mr. Fleming, a surgeon of the district, fixed a simple tin tube of two inches in diameter, into the ceiling of each room, and these tubes led into one general tube, the extremity of which was inserted into the chimney of the factory furnace. By the perpetual draught thus produced upon the atmosphere of each room the inmates were compelled, whether they would or not, to breathe pure air. The effect was that, during the ensuing eight years, fever was scarcely known in the place. The process was apparently defective only in not providing for the appropriate warmth of the air introduced. The cost of remedies previously applied in the public hospitals to the fever cases, continually produced as described in the barracks, were stated by Dr. Cowan to have afforded a striking contrast to the cost of the means of prevention.

Similar defective ventilation and overcrowding in rooms of work, with the addition of the deterioration of the air by the use of candles or gas-lamps at night-work, produce similar effects on the milliners and dressmakers employed at the larger workshops of the metropolis. In a return of the causes of death to the milliners and dressmakers who died during the year 1839, in the unions of the metropolis, in which we have no means of distinguishing those who worked separately or in small numbers, the results were as follows:—

TABULAR STATEMENT of DEATHS from Disease of Milliners and
Dressmakers, in the Metropolitan Unions during the year 1839, as
shown by the Mortuary Registers.

┌───────────┬───────┬───────┬────────────┬───────┬─────────┬───────┐
│ Age. │Number │Average│ Number of │Average│Number of│Average│
│ │ of │ Age. │Deaths from │ Age. │ Deaths │ Age. │
│ │Deaths.│ │Consumption.│ │ from │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ other │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ Lung │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │Diseases.│ │
├───────────┼───────┼───────┼────────────┼───────┼─────────┼───────┤
│ Under 20│ 6│ 17│ 4│ 18│ │ │
│20 Under 30│ 24│ 24│ 17│ 23│ 1│ 23│
│30 Under 40│ 11│ 34│ 6│ 34│ 1│ 33│
│40 Under 50│ 2│ 45│ │ │ 1│ 40│
│50 Under 60│ 4│ 54│ 1│ 58│ 2│ 55│
│60 Under 70│ 5│ 64│ │ │ │ │
├───────────┼───────┼───────┼────────────┼───────┼─────────┼───────┤
│ Total│ 52│ 32│ 28│ 26│ 5│ 41│
└───────────┴───────┴───────┴────────────┴───────┴─────────┴───────┘

Out of 52 deaths in the year, 41 of the deceased attained an age of
25. The average age of the 33 who died of lung diseases was 28.

It is not doubted by medical witnesses that in this class of cases, as in the case of the tailors, one-third at least of the healthful duration of adult life will be found to have been destroyed by the ignorance of the want of ventilation.

Unhappily, this fatal ignorance as to the requisites of the places of work is as frequently manifested in the overcrowded places of repose. I take an illustration from the answers of _Mr. Isaac Gilchrist_, surgeon of Aberdeen, to the question as to the causes of fever:—

“In answering this query, the circumstance that calls for most remark
in reference to this district is the overcrowded state of dwelling
apartments. Six, eight, and even ten occupying one room is anything
but uncommon; and these, too, it frequently happens, are lone women,
all employed at the manufactories during the day and huddled together
during the night. Fever finding its way into any of these apartments,
seldom quits it until every member has been attacked. In some
instances of families of eight or ten members, not one individual has
escaped the disease. I believe also that deficient cleanliness (to a
certain extent the result of poverty) and bad ventilation co-operate
with the overcrowded state of the apartments in propagating fever.”

Similar information is frequent from the metropolis and other districts. It is understood, and it may confidently be expected, that the Commissioners and Assistant Commissioners appointed to investigate the employment of young persons employed in large numbers in other manufactures than those now included in the provisions of the Factory Act will investigate more closely than has hitherto been done the sanitary condition of the labourers employed in the mines as well as in other branches of industry. I take the following evidence respecting the condition of the lodging-shops, obtained by _Dr. Mitchell_, one of the Assistant Commissioners, in the course of his inquiries into the condition of the labouring population engaged in working the mines in Durham and Northumberland. He gives the following description of their sleeping places:—

“Many of the miners, including young persons and boys, will go three
miles and upwards from their own homes in the morning to work in the
mines, or to wash the ore, and return again after their work at night.
Some miners, who are too far off to be able to go and come in this
way, find lodgings for the four nights in the week, and the washers
for five nights, at some houses not too far from the mines. The usual
price is 6_d._ a-week each, for which sum there is a bed between two
of them, leave to make their ‘crowdy’ on the fire in the morning, and
they have their potatoes boiled for them in the evening. They bring
their provisions in a wallet on the Monday mornings: the miners go
back on the Friday, and the washers of ore on the Saturday. But there
are many mines, and some of them very large, in remote situations in
the Fells, far away from all dwelling-houses, where lodgings might be
had, and the proprietors have erected for their miners and washers
buildings called ‘lodging-shops,’ which I now am about to describe:—

“The first one of them which I visited was about nine miles across the
Fell, south from Stanhope. It was a plain building, constructed of
sandstone, covered with a coarse slate; and all very substantial.
There was no opening or window at either end, nor at the back, nor on
the roof. On the front or south side was a door towards the west end,
and two windows, one a little above the other. On entering the door,
it was seen that the lower part was one room, lighted by one of the
windows, and had a great fire burning at the east end. By pacing the
floor the length was ascertained to be about 18 feet, and the breadth
about 15 feet. Along the one side, that next the window, was a deal
table, extending the whole length of the room, and alongside of it was
a form, and there were two other forms in the room. All along the
other side on the wall were little cupboards, 48 in number, in four
tiers above each other; six of the cupboards with the doors off, but
the most of the rest carefully locked with padlocks, and in which the
several miners had deposited their wallets with their provisions for
five days. Throughout the room, more particularly at the end furthest
from the fire, were hung from hooks and nails in the joists, miners’
trousers and jackets to be put on in case of the owners returning wet
from their work.

“In addition to the articles already named were the following:—

“One earthen pitcher to fetch water; one tea-kettle; one pan for
boiling potatoes; two pans for frying bacon; iron fender, a poker, and
shovel; a besom.

“There was a large box in the room secured by a padlock, said to
contain the clothes which the masters put on when they come to see the
mines.

“On ascending to the upper room by a ladder, it was seen to be a
sleeping-room. The dimensions of the floor were of course the same as
of the room below. There was no fire-place, which indeed was not
wanted, but neither was there any opening into a chimney to produce
circulation of air. Along one side of the room were three beds, each
six feet long by about four feet and a-half wide, the three beds
extending the length of the room; then there were three other beds on
the other side, and at the furthest end was a seventh bed extending
from the one line of beds to the other. Immediately over these seven
beds, and supported on posts, were seven other beds placed exactly in
the same way. Of course the person who slept in each of the six beds
of the upper tier next the wall could raise his head only a very
little way on account of the roof. Each of these 14 beds was intended
for two persons, when only few men were employed at the mines, but
they might be made to receive three men each, and, in case of need, a
boy might lie across at their feet. There was no opening of any sort
to let out the foul air, yet from 39 to 40 persons might have slept
there, the men perspiring from their work and inhaling the small dust
from their clothes floating in clouds. The beds were stuffed with
chaff. There were blankets but no sheets. The furniture of the
lodging-shops is supplied by the masters. The beds and blankets are
supplied by the miners themselves. They are taken home sometimes to be
washed. On Friday, when the miners leave, the beds are rolled up to
prevent damp. I visited the lodging-shop on Monday morning. The beds
had not been slept in for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights
preceding, yet was the smell most noxious. There was one excellent
thing connected with this lodging-shop: there was a small but
beautiful stream of water which was conducted across the Fell to this
spot, and came through an iron pipe near the door, so that the men had
an abundant supply of the pure element. I next went to see another
lodging-shop on a larger scale. On the ground-floor were five rooms.
The first is a blacksmith’s shop. Next to it is the cooking and
eating-room of the washers of ore; from 20 to 30 men and boys, if so
many, were employed. It was locked up, and I did not see it. The upper
room, extended over the blacksmith’s shop and the cooking room, is the
sleeping-room of the washers, men and boys. The next room on the
ground-floor is a cooking and eating-room of the miners, exactly like
the room of the lodging-shop already described. Adjoining to it is a
room in which they hang up their wet clothes. At the end is a stable
for the horses which are employed to draw the waggons with ore from
the pits. By a ladder close to the wall between the cooking-room and
drying-room is an ascent to a room exactly like that in the
lodging-house already described, with the same number of beds. One
little pipe of about two inches diameter was the only communication
with the exterior air. Through the partition wall is an opening into a
bed-room, extending over the drying-room and the stable. Across this
room extended two beds, leaving a space for passing. Above these two
was a tier of other two beds: then at a short interval was a second
set of beds, four in number; and further on, a third set similarly
arranged, four in number. Thus in the space above the cooking-room,
drying-room, and stable, were 26 beds, each intended for two or three
men, as it might be, and perhaps more; and the same beds for sets of
miners in their turns, as one set came from their work and another
went off.

“Though the beds had not been occupied for the three preceding nights,
the smell was to me utterly intolerable. What the place must be in the
summer nights is, happily for those who have never felt it, utterly
inconceivable. The medical men are best able to give a judgment on
these matters, but for my own part I cannot but believe that these
lodging-houses are more destructive than the air of the mines. I
should think it no hardship to have to remain 24 hours in a mine, but
I should be terrified at being ordered to be shut up a quarter of an
hour in the bed-room of a lodging-shop.

“Many miners speak of the horrors of lodging-shops of former days; but
the only difference I could learn was, that at many mines there were
not now so many men and boys at work, and consequently the
lodging-shops were not so crowded. Some mines are not now wrought
which formerly had large lodging-shops; for example, Mannergill, of
which a miner stated to me that he was one of 120 who lodged in a
suite of rooms there; and he declared that the nuisance was much
aggravated by the great number.

“In such a dense accumulation of bodies, one man who might be ill was
a disturbance to all the rest. The coughing of a few interrupted the
sleep of others. Men coming from the mine at 12 o’clock at night, and
frying their bacon at the fire below, sent up an odour which added to
the already too suffocating smell of the sleeping-room above. The
great number was an aggravation of what is intolerable at best.

“The miners showed me a tank through which running water passed, in
which they had placed their bottles of milk which they had brought
with them for their coffee.

“There was an excellent supply of running water of the best quality,
and it was the only beverage which the men had; for they stated that
there was no public-house or beer-shop nearer than seven miles, and if
there were one, they durst not go into it for fear of being
discharged.

“The men all said that their lodging-shop was a fair sample of all the
lodging-shops in the country, the only difference being the greater or
less number of men lodging in them, which would depend entirely on the
state of the mine. I have, however, since seen one refinement of which
these men did not seem to be aware, and that was a lodging-shop in
which were not only the beds in tiers all round the room, but there
also was a bed suspended or swung from the top of the room, which
economically filled up a space which otherwise would have been
vacant.”

The following is the account given by a miner himself of the lodging-places:—

_William Eddy_, one of the miners, states;—

“I went to work in Greenside four years. Our lodging-rooms were such
as not to be fit for a swine to live in. In one house there was 16
bedsteads in the room up stairs, and 50 occupied these beds at the
same time. We could not always get all in together, but we got in when
we could. Often three at a time in the bed, and one at the foot. I
have several times had to get out of bed, and sit up all night to make
room for my little brothers, who were there as washers. There was not
a single flag or board on the lower floor, and there were pools of
water 12 inches deep. You might have taken a coal-rake and raked off
the dirt and potatoe peelings six inches deep. At one time we had not
a single coal. After I had been there two years, rules were laid down,
and two men were appointed by the master to clean the house up stairs
twice a-week. The lower apartment was to be cleaned twice a-day. Then
the shop floor was boarded, and two tables were placed in the shop.
After that two more shops were fitted up, but the increase of workmen
more than kept up with the increased accommodation. The breathing at
night when all were in bed was dreadful. The workmen received more
harm from the sleeping-places than from the work. There was one pane
of glass which we could open, but it was close to a bed-head.

“The mines at Greenside were well ventilated, and in that respect
there was nothing to complain of.

“In the winter time the icicles came through the roof, and within 12
inches of the people sleeping in bed. During a thaw, water dropped
plentifully into the beds. In the upper beds the person sleeping next
to the wall cannot raise his head or change his shirt.”

_Joseph Eddy_, another workman, states:—

“I consider the lodging-shops more injurious to the health of the
miners than their work itself. So many sleeping in the same room, so
many breaths, so much stour arising from their working-clothes, so
much perspiration from the men themselves, it is impossible to be
comfortable. Two miners occupy one bed, sometimes three. The beds are
shaken once a-week on the Monday morning, when the miners come. Some
miners make their beds every night. The rooms are in general very
dirty, being never washed, and very seldom swept, not over once
a-month. There is no ventilation, so that the air is very close at
night.”

It is observed of this particular class of men that they are worn out soon after forty; but a large share of this result may also be ascribed to their places of work. The following is a return of the ages of all the miners who died during one year, including those who slept at their own homes, with those who had been accustomed to sleep at the lodging-shops.

STATEMENT of Deaths from Disease
and Accidents of Miners,
Colliers, and Pitmen, in the
Unions of Cumberland and
Westmoreland, and parts of the
Counties of Lancaster and
Northumberland (Population
Census of 1831, 338,273), during
the Year ended 31st December,
1839, as shown by the Mortuary
Registers.

┌──────────────┬───────┬───────┐
│ Periods of │Number │Average│
│ Age. │ of │ Age. │
│ │Deaths.│ │
├──────────────┼───────┼───────┤
│ Under 20│ 37│ 15│
│ 20 Under 30│ 39│ 23│
│ 30 Under 40│ 27│ 33│
│ 40 Under 50│ 27│ 44│
│ 50 Under 60│ 23│ 55│
│ 60 Under 70│ 32│ 64│
│ 70 Under 80│ 17│ 75│
│80 and upwards│ 10│ 86│
├──────────────┼───────┼───────┤
│ Total deaths │ 212│ 42│
└──────────────┴───────┴───────┘

The following is a summary view of the causes of death, from which it will be seen that out of 212 deaths 69 fell from diseases of the respiratory organs, and of these 52 died from consumption, whose average age of death was no more than 36½, and that no less than 58 were destroyed by accidents.

STATEMENT of the Causes of Death amongst Miners in the Unions of
Cumberland and Westmoreland and parts of the Counties of Lancaster and
Northumberland, during the Year ended 31st December, 1839, as shown by
the Mortuary Registers.

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬──────────────┐ │ Cause of Death. │No. of Deaths.│ ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────┤ │Disease of Respiratory Organs:— │ │ │ Consumption │ 52│ │ Other Diseases │ 17│ │Epidemic and Contagious Disease │ 20│ │Accidents:— │ │ │ In Mine │ 37│ │ Not stated to be in Mine│ 21│ │Diseases of the Brain and Nerves │ 12│ │Diseases of the Digestive Organs │ 10│ │Disease of the Heart │ 2│ │Other Causes of Disease │ 22│ │Natural Decay and Old Age │ 19│ ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────┤ │ Total Deaths │ 212│ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴──────────────┘

In a subsequent portion of this report I shall advert to the state of the health of the miners in Cornwall, as compared by Dr. Barham with the state of the agricultural labourers in the immediate vicinity of the mines.

I would here request attention to a suggestion which appears to me to arise from a consideration of the evils above displayed, (and that will receive further corroboration in the course of this report,) that if there were a regular system of periodical inspection of the places of work or places of large assemblage, it would be attended with great advantage to the lower orders of the community, in which the other classes could not fail to participate.