Dr. Theodore Thomson's report to the Local Government Board on epidemic measles in the borough of Lancaster.

  • Thomson, Theodore.
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. Theodore Thomson's report to the Local Government Board on epidemic measles in the borough of Lancaster. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    OFFICIAL COPY. Dr. Theodore Thomson’s Report to the Local Government Board on Epidemic Measles in the Borough of Lancaster. Richard T. Thorne, Medical Officer, January 24/fA, 1898. In the month c>f May last, on receipt of the Registrar General’s Quarterly Return, the attention of the Board was attracted by the fact that there had occurred an exceptionally heavy mortality from measles iir the Borough of Lancaster during the first quarter of 1897. Corres})ondence hereon arose between the Board and the Town Council on the subject of this measles epidemic ; and, in view of the fact that the disease still persisted in the district, I was instructed, on July 13th, to make inquiry into the Circumstances in which measles had been so fatally prevalent in Lancaster. This I did in the course of the ensuing week, ascertaining the facts now set forth in this report. The Borough of Lancaster had, at the census of 1891, a population of 31,038 persons, occupying 3,483 houses ; at the middle of the present year its population is estimated by the Medical Officer of Health to have risen to 38,228. It covf rs an area of 1,577 acres, and has a rateable value of £139,368. The town oe regarded as consisting of an older portioif, which lies around and at t ie of the eminence on which Lancaster Castle stands, and of a newer portion sp 'eading from the older on all sides, but extending more especially in a southerly direction. The older portion of the town shows not a few instances of houses huddled together in a fashion depriving them of proper light and air-space ; while the back streets and yards are often indifferently paved, and less clean than is desirable. In the newer parts of Lancaster, on the other hand, the above conditions—air-space, light, paving, and cleanliness—are distinctly superior to those in the older parts of the town. Working-class houses in newer Lancaster have usually two rooms and a scullerj- on the ground floor, and two or three bed-rooms on the upper floor ; in older Lancaster, accommodation in houses of this class is scantier. The prevailing system of excrement-disposal is by water-carriage, the town being sewered throughout. House refuse is stored in brick ashpits, and is removed periodically by the Town Council as Sanitary Authority. The town has'a public water supply, derived, it is said, from the Millstone Grit of Wyre Fell, some nine miles from Lancaster. ' The more recent history of Lancaster as regards measles may be gathered from the following figures, which show the number of deaths referred to that disease and the number of cases that came to the knowledge of the Sanitarv Authority year by year during the eight years, i889 to 1896 :— Year. Number of deaths referred to measles. Number of cases of measles known to the Sanitaiy Authority. 1889 75 1,315 1890 4 91 1891 3 111 1892 18 752 1893 16 609 1894 — 46 1895 20 1,405 1896 58 1889-96 138 4,387 LONDON: PRINTED FOR HER MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE, By darling k SON, Ltd., 1-3, Gkeat St. Thomas Apostle, E.C. And to be purchased, either directly or through any Bookseller, from EYRE & SPOTTISWOODE, East Harding Street, Fleet Street, E.O.; ac JOHN MENZIES & Co., 12, Hanover Street, Edinburgh, and 90, West Nile Street, Glasgow; or HODGES, FIGGIS, k Co., Limited, 104, Grafton Street, Dubun. 1898. Price Threepence. .Ti t WELLCOME LIBRARY General Collections i +P No. 124.