2-982-504 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Water-tank in St. Giles's-in-the-Fields, [London], 1858. 'There are certain portions of London where the buildings are dilapidated and most of the inhabitants squalid...It should, however, be noticed that many of those men and women, by great exertions from early morning till late at night, contrive to keep from the prison and the work-house; and it is difficult for those who are differently situated to form an idea of the amount of firmness which is required to preserve their limited capital, tempted as they often are by much poverty and privation...The large tank...was erected at a time when water in this dense population was almost as scarce and precious as in the desert, and has proved a great benefit to the neighbourhood. On a recent occasion we made an examination of this district, and found great improvement. In the lodging-houses the sanitary police watch with care and much judgment the condition of the drainage, water supply, number of beds in apartments, and the cleanliness of the rooms...Such dwellings as those drawn will in a very short time cease to exist in the metropolis, and we have therefore made this pictorial record of them in our pages'. From "Illustrated London News", 1858.