Catalogue description Folios 114-122. To: The General Board of Health. From: G Milroy, 55 Victoria Street,...

Folios 114-122.

To: The General Board of Health.

From: G Milroy, 55 Victoria Street, London.

Report upon an inspection he made at Mill Corner on Hadley Common, Enfield, on 23 September 1854, where cholera had broken out 'with great severity' ten days before. Milroy states that upon arriving at the spot he found that the disease continued to prevail and that the Guardians of the Edmonton Union had made no provisions for the care of the sick. He explains that an arrangement was made by the Clerk to the Local Board for a Mr Edward Asbury to come over from Enfield on the following morning, to take charge of the sick and to carry out such preventative measures as were necessary. Twenty six children and three women are said to have been 'speedily conveyed from the infected spot to the Edmonton Union; while lime and other disinfectants were freely used in and around the dwellings which continued to be occupied'. He advises that the result has been very satisfactory; 'for, although diarrhoea continued to prevail, no fresh case of developed cholera has occurred'.

Milroy calls particular attention to 'a foul black ditch' at Mill Corner, 'into which the contents of privies and other abominations found their way, there to stagnate in putridity'. No fewer than seven of ten inmates of one house, situated nearest to the ditch, are said to have been affected; 'four died and the lives of the others were probably only saved by removing them, before it was too late, to a spot at a distance'. Other nuisances found within the locality are said to include 'neglected rubbish heaps' and 'an untrapped opening of a foul drain'. Milroy adds that the place in question has long been known in the neighbourhood 'as a nest of sickness and of vice' - so much so that it has gone by the name of 'Hell Corner'. The complexion and look of the children are said to show that they have been reared in a polluted atmosphere.

Milroy recounts an incident connected with the recent outbreak of disease at Mill Corner. He explains that in September a woman and her husband left the neighbourhood of Golden Square, London, and took up their quarters at a public house in front of Mill Corner, 'in full expectation of finding Hadley Common a safe retreat'. Within a day or two the woman is said to have died of cholera. However, the belief that the disease had been brought into the locality from town has proven unfounded, as Mr Asbury has assured Milroy that 'the first case at Mill Corner occurred the day before the person came from town'.

Milroy concludes that the history of the outbreak 'shows very strongly the necessity there exists for more stringent legislation enactments affecting the owners of small house property ... and also the necessity of a more vigilant supervision by the General Board of Health of all Local Boards entrusted with the important subject of the Public Health'.