C is for Dr Corcoran of Loughborough Part 2

C is for Dr Thomas Francis Corcoran, Part 2

In last week’s post, Dr Corcoran’s report as Medical Officer to Loughborough, to the Council which acted as the Urban Sanitary Authority for the Borough of Loughborough, for 1894 covered such items as mortality, births, and the incidence of infectious diseases. In this, part 2, Dr Corcoran considers the water supply, scavenging, sewage and provides a series of reports upon miscellaneous things.  

WATER SUPPLY

The supply of water to the Borough by the Corporation Waterworks has been abundant in quantity, even this season of great scarcity of water, and the manner in which the Water Committee husbanded the supply during the long drought without any appreciable inconvenience to the inhabitants, deserves the highest commendation.

The water is usually of a very high standard of purity. I periodically make analyses of it, because every water supply is liable to vary in quality according to the rainfall and the condition of the surface from which it is collected. During August and September the quality of the water as indicated by analysis gradually deteriorated, but it never showed any evidence of dangerous pollution. I recommended that a systematic inspection of both Blackbrook and Woodbrook watersheds be made by a competent person. This inspection was made, and seven samples of water were taken at different points in the brooks. I made analyses of these samples, and two samples showed evidence of great organic pollution.

His Worship the Mayor, the Chairman of the Water Committee[i], the Town Clerk[ii], Borough Surveyor[iii] and myself made an inspection of a large portion of the watersheds, and found several possible sources of contamination of the brooks. I am of the opinion that it is very desirable that periodical inspections of the watershed should be made. The analysis of the water which I made at the end of the year shows that it has regained its usual standard of purity.

There are still instances in the town where the water supply is derived from pumps. Nine samples of suspected water from such pumps were submitted to me for analysis by the Inspector. Seven of these samples were condemned and two passed.

SCAVENGING

Since the beginning of the year, the Corporation have themselves had the Scavenging done, instead of as heretofore by a contractor.

The emptying of the pans as it is done now is not at all satisfactory; the closet pan is simply emptied into the card and put back into the frame without any cleansing whatever. The consequence is that they smell just as bad after being emptied as before.

If the pan system is to be adopted, it must be reduced to a system, that is to say, there must be two pans for each closet, the carts must be specially constructed for carrying pans, and start full with empty cleansed pans; then as a full pan is taken away bodily, not emptied until the place of disposal is reached, it is replaced by a clean empty one.

Then the pans for dry house refuse are frequently left in the open, so that in rainy weather they are half full of water. They ought always to be placed under cover.

There is another point I ought to mention in connection with dry house refuse, and that is, that householders should consume which house refuse as paper, rags, fish, bones, cabbage lease, potato peelings, etc., by burning them in the kitchen fire. In fact, there ought to be little except ashes and night-soil to remove.

SEWAGE DISPOSAL

As you are aware, satisfactory progress has been made during the year with the new sewage disposal works[iv], and it is expected that in a few months, that a complete system of sewage disposal, as well as an efficient destructor will be in full operation. I hope this Corporation will see its way to adding a steam disinfector to its list of apparatus.

Bishop Meadow Lock - close to the sewage works

MISCELLANEOUS

I have made several visits to workshops where women and children are employed, and found the bye laws fairly carried out. I have also made visits to tailoring and other workshops, from which wearing apparel in course of construction is taken to the operatives’ home, and compared the list of operatives’ names and addresses with my infectious diseases register. I found that care was taken not to send such garments to home where there was illness. I have also visited slaughter houses, common lodging houses, factories and workshops, to see that the regulations with regard to sanitary matters were observed.

I have alone, and accompanied by the Inspector, made periodical visits to the fish and meat market. Two lots of unwholesome food, namely – unsound fish, were seized and condemned. Legal proceedings were instituted and convictions obtained.

I have also with the Inspector made inspections of overcrowded families, dirty houses, houses unfit for human habitation, etc..

From the Inspector’s report will be seen details of the sanitary work done during the year.”

Dr Corcoran ends his report in the same positive tone with which he began it:

 “The health of the town, and its general sanitary condition at the end of the year was very good, as with the exception of eight mild cases of scarlet fever, it was quite free from infectious disease.

I have the honour to be, gentlemen,

Your obedient servant,

Thomas Corcoran, Medical Officer of Health

25, Victoria Street, Loughborough

26 January 1895”

Appended to the report is a set of tabulated statistics, although they seem to appear as text, so I have converted these to tables for ease of reading.

Mortality from all causes at subjoined ages:

Age	No. of deaths
All Ages	317
Under 1 year	107
1 and under 5	28
5 and under 15	13
15 and under 25	13
25 and under 65	83
65 and upwards	73

Included in the above figures are 11 people who died at the Workhouse or Hospital who did not belong to the Borough. 

Mortality from subjoined causes:

Age	Cause of death	No. of deaths
Under 5 years	Membranous croup	1
	Whooping cough	9
	Diarrhoea	16
	Phthisis	1
	Bronchitis, pneumonia, and pleurisy	42
	Injuries	2
	All other diseases	64
5 years and upwards	Puerperal fever	1
	Erysipelas	1
	Diarrhoea	1
	Phthisis	14
	Bronchitis, pneumonia, and pleurisy	20
	Heart disease	30
	Injuries	15
	All other diseases	100

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[i] The Mayor for 1893-1895 was Alderman W.A. Cartwright, manufacturer and spinner of merino underwear, an owner of the local hosiery firm of Cartwright and Warner, who was living at Limehurst House in 1891. If my reading of this is right – and my research seems to indicate it is – Cartwright was also the Chairman of the Water Committee.

[ii] John Jarrett, was the Town Clerk. At the time of the 1891 census he was living at 10 Forest Road, and gave his occupation as “Town Clerk, Union Clerk, Superintendent Registrar, and School Board Councillor”.

[iii] Ambrose W. Cross was a civil engineer and held the post of Borough Surveyor. In 1891 he was living on Ashby Road.

[iv] These works were begun in 1893, and formally opened in October 1895. This new sewage works was situated adjacent to the canal, between the Swing Bridge, and Bishop Meadow Lock:

I have transcribed the report word-for-word, but have converted some of the numbers to tables, for ease of reading and comparison. Original Source: [Report 1894] / Medical Officer of Health, Loughborough Borough. Loughborough (England). Borough Council. 1894. Deposited at the Wellcome Collection Library and associated with a Creative Commons Licence 4. 

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Dyer, Lynne (2022). C is for Dr Corcoran of Loughborough, Part 2. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2022/01/c-is-for-dr-corcoran-of-loughborough_02063455653.html    [Accessed 16 January 2022]

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Lynne