Eastend London

CAMBRIDGE ROAD

PARADISE-ROW

DIGBY STREET, GLOBE ROAD

HELEN'S-PLACE, CHESTER-PLACE

GEORGE STREET

PEACOCK ALLEY

MOCKFORD BUILDINGS

SUFFOLK STREET

BARNSLEY ALLEY

NEW SOMERFORD STREET

NORFOLK STREET,CAMBRIDGE ROAD

CROSS STREET, CAMBRIDGE ROAD

DARLING ROW, CAMBRIDGE ROAD

ESSEX STREET, NORTHAMPTON STREET

JOHN STREET

JOHN'S COURT, JOHN STREET

GARDEN PLACE, JAMES STREET

JAMES STREET

ELY PLACE, DIGBY PLACE

DIGBY WALK, GLOBE ROAD

BAKER STREET, GREEN STREET

KNOTTISFORD STREET

CHARLES STREET

CEMETERY PLACE

WEST STREET, GREEN STREET

VIOLET ROW

HARROLD STREET, GREEN STREET

TYPE STREET, GREEN STREET

SYDNEY STREET, GREEN STREET

CROSS STREET, GREEN STREET

KING STREET, OLD FORD LANE

OLD FORD LANE

BONNER'S LANE

WHISKER'S GARDENS

PARK STREET

NORTH PLACE, GREEN STREET

BERNHAM SQUARE

GROSVENOR PLACE, GLOBE STREET

PROVIDENCE PLACE, BLUE ANCHOR LANE

PRUSSIA OR BLUE ANCHOR LANE

MARTHA COURT, MARTHA STREET

CHESTER STREET

JAMES PLACE, JAMES STREET

NORTH PASSAGE, HAMDEN'S PLACE

BRAEMAR STREET

"I believe that the highest attainable salubrity may be secured to
cities and towns, by attention to matters that, with us, have been
very much neglected; that by a proper construction of habitations,
a proper ventilation, sewerage, supply of water, and the daily
removal of refuse of every kind by scavengers, a town population
may become quite as healthy as that of the country.

Martin. Second report, Health of Towns and Commission.

I turned into an alley 'neath the wall-

And stepped from earth to hell. - The light of Heaven

The common air was narrow, gross, and dim-

The tiles did drop from the eaves; the unhinged doors

Tottered o'er inky pools, where reeked and curdled

The offal of a life; the gaunt-hunnched swine

Growled at their christened playmates o'er the scraps.

Shrill mothers cursed; wan children wailed; sharp coughs

Rang through the crazy chambers; hungry eyes

Glared dumb reproach, and old perplexity,

Too stale for words; o'er still and webless rooms,

The listless craftsmen through their elf-locks scowled.

"In undertaking to draw up a Report on the present sanitary condition of
the pariah of Bethnal-green, I was actuated by the conviction that I should
find in operation in that parish all those leading elements which tend to
deteriorate the health, and prematurely to destroy no inconsiderable
proportion of the population of large towns. I was also actuated by the
conviction that it was impossible to account for the profound indifference
which prevails amongst a great part of the people generally, and which is
undoubtedly participated in by the authorities of this populous parish, itself
constituting no mean town, with regard to the existence of the agents
which injure health, and destroy life, but by believing that they were
ignorant as to the amount and extent of the ills which they endured. To
believe that the middle and upper classes were fully cognisant that
multitudes of their fellow-beings have their health injured, their lives
sacrificed, their property squandered, their morals depraved, and the
efforts to christianise them set at nought by the existence of certain well-
defined agents, and yet to find them either making no effort to alleviate, or
to remove these misfortunes, or with a stern heart denying their
existence, would be to charge these classes with the most atrocious
depravity, and the most cruel heartlessness and selfish abandonment. It is
impossible to suppose that love and charity are so utterly unknown to this
great Metropolis, celebrated beyond all other cities for the magnificence of
its public charities and the vastness of its benevolent contributions. I have,
then, but to lay bare the naked truth, as to the state of one part of this
vast city; and I believe that the hearts of many will be warmed and their
spirits aroused to assist those who have undertaken the great work of
sanitary improvement and social amelioration".

DISTRICT I.

This district is remarkable, as being the eastern outskirt of London,
nearly as far it extends from north to south. To the north, as to the east,
this district is perfectly free. The north-eastern portion contains a small
part of the Victoria Park -a park which Lord Morpeth, with the most
earnest desire to advance the physical welfare of the inhabitants of the
dense localities in its vicinity, has rendered extremely attractive, and in
which he has provided the requisites for various gymnastic exercises. An
artificial water is likewise being formed, at his desire, for the purpose of
affording to the weary and soiled artizan the refreshment of bathing. In
this district there has likewise, in connection with the Victoria Park, and
through the Woods and Forests, been lately laid down nearly half a mile
of main sewer, which will serve effectually to drain the ground, which has
been prepared for building on, west of the park. Besides this free space,
this district contains large open pieces of ground within itself; namely,
Bethnal Green, and the extensive piece of ground south of it, reaching to
the railway, which has recently been provided by Dr. Warburton for the
use of the lunatics in his establishment. The houses are scattered, and
there is abundance of space. We are [-7-] not therefore to look for
those diseases which are peculiar to over-crowded districts. There are,
however, two elements of a high mortality in the returns for this district;
first, the workhouse, which shall be considered separately; and next, Dr.
Warburton's lunatic asylum, which will follow it. The houses in the
direction of Old Ford are remarkable for their great deficiency of
drainage mid for their dirty streets, but there are, comparatively, few
courts, and still fewer alleys; where they do exist, however, they are in
no respect superior to the filthy hovels and wretched abodes common to
the third, fourth, and fifth districts. The gradual conversion of summer-
houses, cabins, and wooden-sheds into human habitations is to be
remarked, in its elementary stage, in Whisker's-gardens.

The contrast between the condition of the common and Macadamized
roads in most parts of this district, and those in Cambridge-road and
Palestine-place, may be considered as the extreme. In the former there
is scarcely any drainage or sewerage; in the latter they are both
excellent. The former are always very dirty, sometimes abominably filthy;
the latter are always clean.

DISTRICT No. 2.

This district contains very few good houses, with the exception of those
in Bethnal-green-road, and Pollard's-row. The great majority of the
other houses are the abodes of those a little above the poor, and the
poor following every variety of occupation. A very considerable
proportion of the inhabitants are weavers; a W is attached to the
names of those streets chiefly occupied by weavers. One of the
peculiarities of this district is, that between Bethnal-green-road and
Three Colt-lane, more particularly, but likewise in other parts of the
district, there are great numbers of isolated houses, huts, or sheds
placed on the ground, with plots of ground in front of, and surrounding
them. These were formerly, that is to say, from forty years ago,
downwards to the present day, summer- houses surrounded with plots
of ground, and used as places of floriculture and recreation by the
citizens of London. Hence these places are called gardens. The tide of
citizen emigration has for a long time however, been diverted from
Bethnal-green, and the wooden sheds and temporary huts erected on
the bare soil, for storing gardening utensils, and in which to spend the
summer evenings, have gradually been converted into human
habitations. None, or almost none of the houses which are now on the
ground, were originally intended for the dwellings of human beings, but
for the purposes specified. The commencement of this transition state
is to be observed in Whisker's-gardens, District No. 1. The entrance to
these abodes is by narrow lanes, which are unpaved, and con-[-18-]
sequently nearly always muddy, in wet weather more particularly so, so
that ingress or egress is necessarily accompanied with personal
uncleanness. These dwellings, in some instances, are unfit to house
cattle in; in other, but very few instances (I think I could count the
exceptions), they are tolerably clean. They are totally without drainage
of any kind, except into shallow cesspools, or holes dug in the gardens;
they are consequently extremely damp, and the inhabitants suffer
much from rheumatism, from febrile diseases, from diseases of the
respiratory and digestive organs, from nervous affections, and
cachexia. There is very seldom any water laid on to the houses; one
stand-tap, as in Middle-walk, George-gardens, generally supplies five,
ten, or sixteen houses. Many houses are altogether without water, and
the inhabitants require to get it as they best can. In Wilmot-grove the
peculiarity of barrels sunk in the ground is to be remarked. Some of the
houses have wells, as in Camden-gardens. Very few of these houses
have regular cesspools; the privies are sometimes placed close beside
the entrance to the house, at other times at the extremity of the
garden bordering the narrow lane or footpath. They are, in the
majority of cases, full, in some instances, overflowing, and frequently,
like the houses themselves, in a dilapidated condition. Another
peculiarity in this district, is the number of alleys and narrow lanes,
many of them forming cul-de-sacs. The houses in these alleys are
always of the very worst description, and are in an excessively dirty
state. There is seldom any house drainage, or if there be, it is only to a
gutter in front, where the water stagnates, till the sun's heat shall
cause it to disappear by evaporation. It is the nearly universal custom
to throw the refuse water and garbage on the streets.

This district seems to be capable of very great amelioration; there is
sufficient space to ensure free and complete ventilation; there are no
piles of buildings to cause the air to stagnate, or to seduce a multitude
of occupants into a contracted space. The soil is gravelly, and is not
opposed to natural drainage. The evils which exist in it are evidently of
man's formation, and are clearly traceable to negligence and
indifference on the part of the owners of property to the wants and
necessities of the poor; - huts and sheds metamorphosed into houses -
two-roomed houses planted on the damp soil, without drainage or
sewerage, - without a sufficient supply of water - with no decent
accommodation for the demands of nature - with no receptacles for
refuse, and no provision whatever for removing it - with general
cleansing utterly neglected - and all sorts of nuisances tolerated, in
spite of demonstration and reprobation. These are the phenomena
which strike the reflecting observer

DISTRICT No. 3.

THE chief peculiarity of this district consists in its comparatively
small number of courts and alleys, and the total absence of
gardens. This part of the parish is about the oldest. The houses
then built were chiefly to accommodate the weavers, and the
practice followed was, to build a street of several stories, not, as is
the present custom, to plant on the damp, undrained soil, two
rooms on a ground floor. In this district, a very great number of
the houses are built on a level from 18-inches to 2-feet below that
of the path-way. Dust and dirt, therefore, readily become
deposited in the houses, and there is much difficulty in cleansing
them. In the summer season, moreover, they are very liable to
have the mud washed into them. At all times they are very damp,
and become sources of much disease to the inhabitants;
rheumatism is extremely prevalent, and forms a large proportion
of the cases of sickness. Over-crowding takes place to a great
extent in this district. Many of the houses in Nelson-street, which
have only four moderate sized rooms, have a family in each floor.
The larger houses in Hare-street, Swan-street, and Bacon-street,
are similarly overcrowded; sometimes as many as 14 persons sleep
in one room. From six to nine is a common number. The chief
occupants are mechanics and labourers, but principally weavers.
Their earnings are very small and very precarious, and their habits
are commonly intemperate. Many of the old streets which have
granite road-ways, are in a most disgracefully broken-up state,
rendering transit over them dangerous and disagreeable. The
cleansing of the streets here seems to be utterly neglected. The
complaints of the impossibility to have refuse removed by the
contractor, are everywhere prevalent, loud, and deep. The same
practice of scattering the slops, and all refuse on the streets is the
rule. The same want of efficient drainage is manifest, and the
same absence of sewerage is greatly to be deplored. Much poverty
is apparent, and the causes of disease and death are to be found
to an alarming extent. The water supply is conducted on the same
outrageous principles of utter indifference to the welfare and
comfort of the miserable tenants. There are two water closets in
this district. One at the parsonage, another at the Green-gate,
both of them drain into cesspools. Generally, there is one privy for
every two houses, but in many instances there is only one for a
much greater number. Some of them are very offensive.

This district contains the grave-yard attached to the parish church;
80,090 persons have been buried in it.

The railway has been, at once, a source of great benefit to this
part of the parish, and of no slight evil. It has erased a great
number of streets and alleys of the worst possible description, and
thus effectually rid the parish of a cluster of houses containing a
population ever paupers, ever sources of expense, through their
sickness and mortality. But although it has thus removed a kind of
property utterly unimprovable, it has produced considerable
sources of disease in the filth and dirt which are permitted to
accumulate around the bases of most of the arches. The great
traffic, likewise, from the goods depot, has broken up the streets
and produced great uncleanness. On the whole, however, great
benefit has arisen to this part of Bethnal-Green Parish by the
passage of the railway through it. It is greatly to be deplored that
a very great number of the houses which abut on it are in a most
dilapidated, desolate, and wretched condition, and that no efficient
steps are taken either to erase them, or to render them fit for
habitation by human beings. In consequence of the numerous
houses which have been taken down for the railway, and partly,
perhaps, from the numerous officials employed by the Company,
who require to reside near the terminus, a great demand has
arisen for all kinds of houses, and of lodgings. I observed in all my
travels through this district but two empty houses; these were
two- roomed, and, doubtless, would speedily be occupied.

The same streets, which, 10 years ago, were considered the most
unhealthy, and which were remarkable for their great mortality
from epidemics, at the present time exhibit the same causes of
disease, and a similar high mortality. No improvement, worthy of
the name, has been effected, though the lamentable facts of the
great prevalence of disease and high mortality have long been
notorious.