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Royal Sanitary Commission

The Royal sanitary Commission was established in 1869. It's remit was to investigate the manner in which laws relating to Public health and sanitation were being implemented across the country. It reported its findings in 1871, which were considered by the government and resulted in further legislation being introduced relating to Sanitation, sewage and housing.

The Commission interviewed 70 local officials and experts in order to reach its conclusions. Several of these men were from Yorkshire, and bradford was noted on occasion:

Source 1

1032.Are you aware that in the neighbouring town of Bradford the byelaws against back-to-back houses have been found to diminish the supply of houses so much that those byelaws have been modified ?

-I believe there has been a great contention in the town council upon the question of back-to-back houses. I think the question was taken up by land speculators and a difficulty in the town. There were a great number of back-to-back houses., and the injustice appeared to bo this, that to forbid the continuance of those houses was a hardship to the owners of property immediately adjoining to those who possessed back-to-back houses, and that to prevent that injustice you should sweep them away altogether.

1033. But are you aware of the fact that the bye-laws against back-to-back houses had been a considerable time in operation until there was an excess of population as compared with the supply of houses, when they found it necessary to relax those byelaws in order to house the population ?

- I believe there was a division in the council, and that at one tina'e the bye-laws were confirmed, and at another time they were modified. It entirely depends upon the constitution of the council. Probably, there .may be a council next year who will carry resolutions that there should be no such thing as back-to-back houses. There is a bill before Parliament this year promoted by the Keighley Local Board, which has gone through the committee of the House of Commons where they have scheduled the provisions of the Public Health Act with respect to houses and streets, to give them the force of law. and in that case they have not allowed more than four houses to be built together in one nest.

Source 2

2203. As to Bradford, where you were town clerk from 1861 to 1866, what is the area of the borough ?

-6,508 acres.

2204. What is the population ?

-The estimated population in 1868 is 134,000.

2205. When was Bradford incorporated?

-It was incorporated on the 9th of June 1847. Bradford is a most remarkable instance of increase of population. In 1801 the population was only 13,264, in 1841 it was 66,715, and at the census of 1861 it was 106,218. Bradford is very favourably situated for taking statistics, because it comprises exactly four townships. The boundaries of the borough are conterminous with the boundaries of the union, so that there can be no mistake about the statistics that have been taken from time to time.

2206. Do you mean that the Bradford poor law union comprises four townships ?

-Yes, it comprises four townships, and the four townships comprise the borough, so that the boundaries are as convenient as it is possible to have them.

2207. What is the local government of Bradford ?

-The local government is by a charter granted on the 9th of June 1847, and by the Bradford Improvement Act of 1850, under which the council were constituted the local board of health, and of course they took the benefit of the subsequent Local Government Acts of 1858 and 1861 in their entirety.
2208. What public Acts does the Improvement Act incorporate ?-The Improvement Act, 1850, incorporated the principal parts of the Public Health Act, 1848, the Towns Police Clauses Act, 1847, the Towns Improvement Clauses Act, 1847, the Gasworks Clauses Act, 1847, and Markets and Fairs Clauses Act 1847.

2209. In fact almost all the Clauses Acts of that year ?

-Yes, almost all that had been previously passed, were incorporated.

2210. How is the water supply of Bradford regulated ?

-The water supply of Bradford is regulated mainly by the Corporation Waterworks Act, 1854; that was amended in 1858, and again in 1862, but substantially the supply is under the Act of 1854. ..

2211. Was that a local Bradford Act ?

-Yes. It is a gravitation scheme exclusively, the source of supply being a large spring in one of the valleys running into Airedale, and large gathering grounds both in Airedale and Wharfedale, and the compensation reservoirs for the millowners are upon separate gathering grounds ; that is to say, they do not deliver so much compensation water from their reservoirs, but they give the millowners a separate gathering ground and reservoir for themselves, and then they are free from all further

JOSEPH BAYNEK, Esq., examined by the Royal Commission. 1869.

Source 3

He mentioned Bradford as an instance, I think, where it was stated that there had been an error of 24,000: that was not in the census, but in the estimate made by the people of Bradford, who wanted to show that the mortality in that town was not so great as it had been represented to be by the Eegistrar-G-eneral, but at the census they discovered that tbeir estimate was erroneous. Also in Liverpool in the same manner, they were dissatisfied at seeing their town represented as suffering from a high rate of mortality, and some contended that there was an error in the census and they thought that they discovered.

W. Farr, Esq., examined by the Royal Commission. 1869.

The full transcript of the evidence provided by the Town clerk of Halifax can be read by looking at the following images:

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Images from Victorian Times.

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