Dr. S.W. Wheaton's report to the Local Government Board on diphtheria in the borough of Wrexham / [S.W. Wheaton].

  • Wheaton, S. W.
Date:
1897
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. S.W. Wheaton's report to the Local Government Board on diphtheria in the borough of Wrexham / [S.W. Wheaton]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    1/10
    OFFICIAL COPY. Dr. S. W. Wheaton’s Report to the Local Government Board on Diphtheria in the Borough of Wrexham. Rich15. Thorne Thorne, Medical Officer, August 12th, 1897. On May 6th, 1897, the Town Council of the borough of Wrexham wrote to the Board, enclosing a copy of a Report by the Medical Officer of Health on prevalence of diphtheria in the borough, and asking that a local investigation might be made by one of the Board’s Medical Inspectors as to the cause of the outbreak in question. I was accordingly instructed to visit Wrexham, and to report upon the circumstances of the outbreak of diphtheria. I visited the town on May 15th and following days. (a.) General sanitary condition oj the Borough of Wrexham. The district under the control of the Town Council of the borough of Wrexham has an area of 1,306 acres, and had, in 1891, a population of 12.552 persons, living in 2,353 houses. The population in 1881 consisted or 10.978 persons only. At the present time the population is estimated at 14,500 persons. The inhabitants of Wrexham are chiefly engaged in the ordinary industries of a market town. There are also breweries, tanneries, and flour mills, which give employment to a large number of persons. The town of Wrexham is situate upon a site which has a general slope towards the River Dee, which is about five miles distant, and which also has a more pronounced fall on each side towards a small stream, the Gwenfro, which flows through the centre of the town. The situation of the town is favourable to the free circulation of air, since there are no hills in the immediate neighbourhood to check the force of the winds; and the whole of the town is situated at a considerable elevation above the sea-level. As is the case with many ancient towns, the central portion contains a number of streets which are narrow and crooked for the most part, the intervening space being occupied by collections of courts, and dwellings which are irregularly grouped, so as to obstruct the lighting and ventilation. In the outlying portions of the town are many dwellings of the villa type, which are detached or semi-detached; and of late many new streets, con¬ taining dwellings for the working classes, have been formed in the outskirts of the town. Owing to its position as an important market town, and as the centre of a large and populous coal-mining district, Wrexham is very liable to the risk of importation of infectious disease from a large number of surrounding towns and villages. There are three weekly markets, on which occasions large LONDON: PRINTED FOR HER MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE, BY EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE, PRINTERS TO THE QUEEN’S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. And to be purchased, either directly or through any Bookseller, from EYRE and SPOTTISWOODE, East Harding Street, Fleet Street, E.C.; or JOHN MENZIES & Co., 12, Hanover Street, Edinburgh, and 90, West Nile Street, Glasgow; or HODGES, FIGGIS, & Co., Limited, 104, Grafton Street, Dublin^ Xjfr.SLLCGM'-v - > LIBRARY No. 120. 1897. Price Threepence. I ? General Collections +P n