The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-03 00:00:00

The East London Union,

Yesterday a poor woman, nearly blind, who was accom-
panied by two boys of the respective ages of 11 and 7, her
sons, applied to the Lord Mayor, at the Justice-room of
the Mansion-house, for advice in a state of distress. She
stated in effect that she was the daughter of a freeman of
London now dead, and chiefly through losing her sight
about five years ago during an attack of fever she with her
husband and a young family had been reduced to poverty.
Her parish was that of Bishopsgate Without, and she had
now and then received relief there through the East London
Union. A few weeks ago she and her husband, with the two
boys, left the Union and travelled into Kent to work at hop
picking. She herself, being blind, could do little or nothing
in that way, and her husband had only met with occasional
employment, by which they earned a few shillings a week,
barely sufficient to keep them in food, and they slept mostly
in barns at nights. At length they determined to return
to London, and on their way back they passed the night
of Sunday in a barn at Eltham. At daybreak yester-
day morning they set out to walk to town, a distance of
eight or nine miles. They got a lift ina cart part of the way
and when they reached London none of them had broken
their fast. While crossing London-bridge she missed her
husband in the crowd, and had not since seen him. She had
no fear that he had deserted her. With her two lads she
made her way to the relieving office of the East London
Union, in Devonshire-square, Bishopsgate, sinking for want
of food. It was then about midday, and she and they had
had nothing to eat since the previous evening. Doing well
known to Mr. Williams, the relieving officer, she stated
the circumstances to him, telling him they were homeless
and without food, and asked him to relieve them ; but ho
refused, saying he could do nothing for her until he knew
where they slept the previous evening. She told him they
had passed the night at Eltham, to which he replied that he
must make inquiries there, as he could not take that for
granted. She asked what they were to do in the meantime,
and whether they were to be left to starve. He still declined
to entertain her application, and on her pressing it upon
him with still more urgency he became very angry, and
turning to a porter said, " Throw her out, throw her out."
She told him she had often heard of his having ordered
poor people to be thrown out of his office when they ap-
plied for relief, but could hardly believe it until now. She
then left, and had come to ask the Lord Mayor what she
was to
and
dounthdeery circumstances.had
ednot
tastedfood
that
tawt day.
was then after two
o'clock,
The Chief Clerk told the Lord Mayor that this was not
the first complaint that had been wade there by poor
people of the conduct of Mr. Williams, the relieving officer
of the East London Union. Only a few days ago a poor
woman carrying an infant afflicted with fever came to the
justice-room for advice in a state of distress. She had, she
said, applied to Mr. Williams for medical aid for her child,
and he granted her an order, telling her at the same time to
take it to the surgeon named in it by a certain hour and
she would find him at home. She went accordingly at the
time mentioned and saw the medical officer, who said, "Oh,
we've heard of your case before," and the result was that
she did not receive the medical relief for the child she had
been led by Mr. Williams to expect, and there was reason to
believe that Mr. Williams had in the interim countermanded
his own order which he had given tho applicant. Mr. Oke
added that ho had observed a disposition on the part of the
Guardians of this particular Union to screen their officers
whenever the conduct of any of them had been called in
question at the Justice-room, and so long as that was the
case they might expect to have poor people making com-
plaints of hard usage in that quarter. In the case of the
woman and her two boys, as to Mr Williams telling her he
must make inquiries at Eltham where she slept, she was-
only passing through Eltham when she passed the night
there, and could only have boon a casual pauper in that