The poor man's guardian, No. 2

Issue number 2 of 'The Poor Man's Guardian' for Saturday 13 November 1847. The image on the front cover is of Lambeth workhouse casual ward for females, and St Pancras workhouse casual ward for males, reports on both having been recorded in issue 1 of the newspaper by the society chairman, Charles Cochrane. During his visit to St Mary's, Lambeth, Cochrane discovered 116 people in the two wards which were so overcrowded that people were huddled together on the floor. He reported that "on opening the doors the heat and effluvia were such that I had not nerve to venture within; but with regard to the women's ward, had I had the inclination it would have been impossible, as the whole of the passage was most completely blocked up by their prostrate figures. In some cases they were lying across each other, the head of the one lying on, or next to, the feet of the other."