Report on the accommodation in St. Pancras workhouse / by Henry Bence Jones ; presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty.

  • Jones, Bence, 1814-1873.
Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the accommodation in St. Pancras workhouse / by Henry Bence Jones ; presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    There should be more beds, and the urinals would be less offensive to the rooms if outside the door. In consequence of the crowded state of other parts of the house, some adults have been moved into some of the rooms of this building which ought to be occupied b}7 the children alone. In two long excavated rooms, the adult men congregate during the day. Late one evening, in one I found fifty men ; the room smelt of tobacco ; and on examination the air contained above one and a half per cent. (1-6 per cent.) of carbonic acid; in the other, which was oftener cleared, and then the windows and doors opened, 150 are sometimes collected. Mr. Waldegrave stated, that he had frequently been called to men who had fainted in the rooms when the wards were most full in the winter. He said, that occasionally the rooms are so full that there is no possibility of sitting down, and many are obliged to stay in the passages or to go to bed. That the constant ventilation is very insufficient is shown by the fact, that in the larger room, when the inmates go to the hall for meals, the air is swept out by opening the door and all the windows. The man who has the charge of this room stated that many constantly complained of head-aches. When asked what would happen if the door and windows were kept closed for an hour or two, he said that they would be suffocated; that he would not then stay in the room on any account. Another man, who had been messenger, and from illness was obliged to be in this room, said, that though he had nothing to do in one place, and very much in the other, yet that the air was so bad he should like to be out of it. Other inmates in this room gave me answers to the same effect. Doubtless these rooms are improved by being On the men’s day rooms.