Report to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State For the Home Department, from the Poor Law Commissioners, on an Inquiry Into the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain; With AppendicesChadwick, Edwin
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Report to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State For the Home Department, from the Poor Law Commissioners, on an Inquiry Into the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain; With Appendices
Chadwick, Edwin
Housing -- Great Britain; Public health -- Great Britain
“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:—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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