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Title Dr Duncan, Medical Officer of Health. Letter Book, 1859-1864
Author Duncan, Dr William Henry; Trench, Dr William Steward
Date 26 Jul 1859 - 7 Oct 1864
Document Type Correspondence; Manuscript
Reference 352 HEA/1/3
Library / Archive Liverpool Record Office
Collection Name Letter Books of the Medical Officer of Health
Description Correspondence relating to the official duties of the Medical Officer of Health. The volume is concerned primarily with registering lodging houses and enforcing fines for breaking by-laws such as not applying for tickets, poor cleanliness, mixing of the sexes etc. Also included are population statistics, mortality rates, cases of disease and complaints against industrial businesses. Letters from Dr William Steward Trench begin in June 1863.
Series Description The letter books are made up of correspondence of Liverpool's first three Medical Officers of Health. Dr Duncan died on 23 May 1863. He had been in ill-health for some time but was still serving as Medical Officer of Health at the time of his death. By July 1863, Dr William Steward Trench (1810-1877) had been appointed as his successor, the second Medical Officer of Health for Liverpool. By the middle of 1876 Dr Trench's health was also failing and he was no longer fit for active work. On 22 June 1876 the Health Committee therefore gave consideration to the appointment of a Deputy Medical Officer of Health '... in consequence of the impaired state of the Health of the Medical Officer ...'. On 13 July 1876 Dr John Stopford Taylor (c.1822-1901) was (amid some controversy, as a former member of the Health Committee) appointed Deputy Medical Officer of Health to act for the absent Medical Officer of Health. Dr Trench died on 5 December 1877. It was resolved by the Health Committee on 27 December 1877 that Dr J. Stopford Taylor be appointed Medical Officer of Health for Liverpool. He retained this office until 1893. The letter books do not cover the whole of his period in office.
Biographical Note / History The post of Medical Officer of Health for Liverpool was created under the terms of 'An Act for the Improvement of the Sewerage and Drainage of the Borough of Liverpool and for making further Provisions for the Sanatory Regulation of the said Borough', 26 June 1846, cap. cxxvii. This was a private act promoted by the Town Council of Liverpool, of which section cxxii calls for the appointment of 'a legally qualified Medical Practitioner of Skill and Experience ... [to] be called The Medical Officer of Health for the Borough of Liverpool'. The first holder of the office of Medical Officer of Health for Liverpool, also the first Medical Officer of Health to hold office in the country, was Dr William Henry Duncan (1805-1863), a Liverpool doctor, formerly physician to the Liverpool Royal Infirmary and lecturer in Medical Jurisprudence at the Royal Institution. By the early 1840s sanitary conditions in Liverpool had become very bad and Dr Duncan had been one of the leaders in the movement for sanitary reform in Liverpool. His appointment as Medical Officer of Health for Liverpool was confirmed by the Secretary of State (as required by the 1846 Act) on 1 January 1847. The appointment was to be held on a part time basis at an annual salary of £300, the holder retaining the right to a private practice. This arrangement 'was soon found to be incompatible with his private duties ...' and the terms of the appointment of the Medical Officer of Health were altered. On 11 January 1848 the Council resolved that (subject to the approval of the Secretary of State) the appointment should be a full time one at an annual salary of £750.
Theme(s) Departures: Port Conditions and Organisation
Places London, England; Glasgow, Scotland
Ports Liverpool, England
Keywords health and sickness, legislation, medical staff, lodging house, disease, overcrowding, hospital, emigrant, sanitation, death, statistics, police, typhus, dysentery, fever, industry, sailor, workhouse, children, small pox, fines, public health
Language English
Document(s) linked to Dr Duncan, Medical Officer of Health. Letter Book, 1849-1853
Dr Duncan, Medical Officer of Health. Letter Book, 1853-1859
Dr Trench, Medical Officer of Health. Letter Book, 1864-1867
Dr Trench, Medical Officer of Health. Letter Book, 1867-1872
Dr Trench and Dr Stopford Taylor, Medical Officer of Health. Letter Book, 1872-1889
Copyright Liverpool Record Office