ABSTRACT
The author worked as assistant medical officer of health for the City and Port of Liverpool between 1883 and 1894, after which time he was promoted to medical officer, a position he held until his retirement in 1924. In his role as medical officer, he was responsible for ‘protecting the health of the whole community’ and ‘preventing disease in contrast to the more limited object of curing the sick’. He was also responsible for inspecting shops selling food, hospitals and slaughterhouses. His entries dealing with family and domestic life, although one may notice his concern in the entries about milk being sold from a home with rampant infection. The addresses for many of the homes the author visits indicate that they were tenements, courts and cellar dwellings, some of the very worst kind of housing. He mostly reserves judgement as he records the family dynamics as he finds them.
