Dr. Thresh's report report to the Local Government Board on the extensive prevalence of typhoid fever in Southend, Essex / John C. Thresh.

  • Thresh, John C. (John Clough), 1850-1932.
Date:
[1890?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. Thresh's report report to the Local Government Board on the extensive prevalence of typhoid fever in Southend, Essex / John C. Thresh. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    A large proportion of the houses are small villas, usually in terraces of from 6 to 12. I have no reason to consider that they are structurally more defective than similar houses in other watering places. Mr. SHIRLEY Murphy describes them fairly in his report dated March, 1888, and as I shall have to deal somewhat fully with certain defects at a later period, there is no necessity to go into further details now. At present, Southend has no Hospital for Infectious diseases, therefore, such cases are not isolated. Neither does the Town possess any apparatus for disinfecting infected bedding, clothing, etc. All the houses are now furnished with water closets, none of which are flushed directly from the water mains. A large proportion are hand flushed, the others have small cisterns supplying the closets only. Z^O With the exception of about 120 houses lying towards the outskirts of the Urban S. District, all are supplied with water from the wells of the Southend Waterworks Company, and derived from the chalk underlying the London Clay, Oldhaven, Woolwich, and Thanet beds, which here have a thickness of about 600 feet. There are three wells— the Southend well, at the West end of the town, sunk in 1864, when the Cliff-town Estate was being laid out; the Prittlewell well, sunk in 1880; and the Eastwood well, sunk last year. The Southend well is 906 feet deep, 385 feet being sunk and lined with brickwork, and 521 feet bored. The surface soil here was only three feet in thickness, and was cleared off when the well was made. Below this is 30 feet of stiff yellow clay, and 384 feet of blue clay. The boring extends 304 feet into the chalk. When not pumping the water will rise to within 200 feet of the surface, but by pumping it can be reduced to 267 feet. The Prittlewell well is sunk 360 feet and bored 517 feet. The section is as under : sand and gravel 46 feet, London clay 362 feet, sand 119 feet, chalk 350 feet. The sunk portion is lined with brick, an immense iron cylinder being inserted at the junction of the sand and London clay. When not pumping the water rises to within 220 feet of the surface, by pumping it can be reduced to 294 feet. The Eastwood well is 685 feet deep, 247 feet being sunk, and 438 feet bored. The section is as follows :—surface soil, 5 feet, sand, brick earth and gravel, 43 feet, London clay, 228 feet, sand, etc., 151 feet, chalk, 258 feet. The sunk portion is lined in the same manner as the Prittlewell well. Water rises to within 96 feet of the surface, but by close pumping is reduced to 130 feet. This well is only 50 feet above Ordnance datum, whilst Prittlewell is 101| feet, and Southend 108 feet above that line. The water from the Eastwood well is pumped into a rising main which passes by the pumping station at Prittlewell, where it is joiued by the main from this well, it is then continued to the Southend Station, where the main from this is connected. It then proceeds to the water tower near, entering at the bottom, and when the tank is full the water overflows into a large brick-lined reservoir in the same enclosure. The tower over¬ flow is 159'4 feet above Ordnance datum, the reservoir overflow 117^ feet. The bottom of the reservoir is about on the level with the roadway. The trunk main from Eastwood gives off branches for the supply of Prittlewell. After receiving the Prittlewell water, branch mains supply Porters Town, London Road, Milton Road, the Roads branching off to the West and Avenue Terrace, and part of