20th Sept 1849

     The weekly Report of the Medical Officer of Health was read.
 

     The following Report of the Medical Officer of Health on the places of Public Interment within the Borough was read.

 

The Medical Officer of Health with reference to the subject of Interments and the state of the Burial Grounds in Liverpool begs to report

                                                      That there are 39 Burial Grounds within the Borough viz : -

                               30 in the Parish of Liverpool
                               4 in Everton and Kirkdale
                               3 in West Derby Ward and 
                               2 in Toxteth Park

     but that two of those in the Parish of Liverpool have been recently closed viz : -

                                                                                                                                          St Mary's Cemetery, Cambridge Street and the Grave Yard attached to the Baptist Chapel, Byrom Street.
             The Interments take place in Graves, Vaults or Pits
     In 23 Burial Grounds, Graves only are used
     In 7 Burial Grounds, Graves and Vaults only
     In 4 Burial Grounds, Graves and Pits
     In 2 Burial Grounds, Graves, Vaults and Pits and
     In 1 Burial Ground,  Pits only
            The aggregate annual number of Interments within the Borough is, in ordinary Years, from 10,000 to 11,000, of this number, as nearly as can be ascertained about two-thirds take place in Pits and one third in Graves, the Interments in Vaults probably not exceeding 20 Annually.
             In the following 12 instances the Burial Grounds are stated by the Sextons to be either crowded or fully occupied
St Nicholas' St Thomas'
St Peter's St Anne's
St Paul's All Saints
St John's St Peter's Catholic Chapel
St James' St Nicholas' Catholic Chapel
Trinity Small Cemetery Everton Road
          
                            In all of theses instances, with the exception of the last, the Grounds have been used for more than half a Century in two instances (St Thomas' and St Anne's) about a Century, in one (St Peter's) nearly a Century and a half and in one instance  (St Nicholas') Five Centuries. - In all with the exception of 4, complaints have been made of offensive emanations under certain circumstances. -  The aggregate average number of interments in 11 of these Grounds is only 630, but in St John's alone about 500 Burials take place Yearly.
                            The Medical Officer of Health has been informed by the Minister of St John's that in Warm Weather, when the doors and windows of the Church are open for the sake of ventilation the effluvia entering from the Grave Yard are frequently most offensive and overpowering. In the remaining 18 cases where interments take place only in Graves or Vaults, the ground is not full, and so far as known, no complaints have been made of any offensive effluvia.
                            In all theses instances, excepting four, the ground has been opened since the commencement of the present Century. The average Annual number of interments is only about 370 in the 18 Burial Grounds.
                            The objectionable practice of burying in Vaults under Churches or Chapels appears to be confined to the nine following places of Worship viz : -
St Nicholas' St Mary's Edgehill
St Anne's St Andrew's
Trinity St Patrick's Catholic Chapel
Christ Church St Anthony's Catholic Chapel
St Martin's  
                            In the 7 first mentioned, the number of interments in Vaults has of late not exceeded Four Annually; the number in the Catholic Chapels has not been ascertained but it is probably very small. 
                            The 7 Burying grounds in which bodies are deposited in Pits are those attached to the Wesleyan Chapel Stanhope Street
                                             St Patrick's Catholic Chapel Park Road
                                             St Anthony's Catholic Chapel Scotland Road
                                                              and
                                             St James'
                                             The Necropolis
                                             St Mary's Cemetery, Kirkdale
                                             The Parish Cemetery Vauxhall Road
 
     The facts connected with the practice of interment in Pits has already been reported to the Committee, but in order to present a connected view of the subject, they are here recapitulated
                            The pits vary in depth from 18 to 30 feet being 7 to 12 feet long and 3� to 9 feet wide
                            The number of bodies deposited in each Pit varies from 30 in St James' and St Mary's Cemeteries to 120 in St Patrick's according to the statements of the Sextons themselves.
                            In St James' Cemetery about 6 inches of Earth are placed over the Coffins after each days interments, in the others the Coffins are covered with 2� feet of soil which is removed previous to the next interments, but with these exception the Pits remain open or only covered with a frame work of boards until filled with Coffins - a period varying from 10 days in the case of the smaller to 10 weeks in the case of the larger pits.
                            Although the evils connected with the practice of intra-mural interment have been less severely felt in Liverpool than in the Metropolis where many of the Grave Yards, situated in densely peopled neighbourhoods have been in use for Centuries there can be no doubt that under any circumstances the practice of burying within the precincts of Towns, unless guarded by the strictest regulations must be productive of injury to the health of the inhabitants.
                            It has been estimated that an Acre of ground is capable of affording decent interment to not more than 136 bodies Yearly, but in the 37 Burial Grounds of Liverpool, taking one with another, the number of Burials to an acre is fully double of that just stated. Were the calculations confined to the Burial Grounds in most frequent use, the proportion would be greatly augmented.
                            In some of these places it is almost impossible to dig a new Grave without disturbing bodies previously buried and in some the Soil when opened up appears composed chiefly of human remains in a state of decomposition.
                            It cannot be doubted that Grave Yards thus impregnated with decaying Animal matter must contaminate the Atmosphere in such a way as to injure the health, not so much by the production of sudden disease which may be directly traced to its cause as by a gradual process of deterioration leading to the development of disease in a more slow but equally certain manner. It was he observation of the injury to health arising from the practice of intra-mural interment which caused the Legislature of France as well as the other warmer Continental Countries upwards of 80 years ago to declare illegal all interments in Towns, and subsequently to deprive even the Priests of the privilege which they had enjoyed, of interment within their own Churches.
                            But the grand evil in the case of Liverpool and that which calls most urgently for interference, is the practice of burying large numbers of bodies in open Pits.
                            It must be unnecessary to say anything as to the injurious nature of this practice, if it be considered that in the hot weather of Summer more than 100 bodies are collected together in an open Pit in all stages of decomposition some of them having lain there for upwards of two Months.
                            Only two feet of space are left between the Pits so that the moisture saturated with the decomposed matter of an adjoining Pit not unfrequently percolates through the intervening Rock or Soil, into one which is newly made.
                            In no case does the soil covering the Pit when filled exceed the legal minimum of 2� feet.
                            In conclusion the Medical Officer of Health begs to represent that the health and comfort of the inhabitants require that further interments be prohibited in the following Burial Grounds viz: -
                                                        St Nicholas'
                                                        St Peter's
                                                        St Paul's
                                                        St John's and
                                                        St James'
and that the practice of interment in Pits be regulated in such a way as to to prevent its becoming a source of Public nuisance.
                                                                                                 (signed) W H  Duncan
                                                                                                        Medical Officer of Health