London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
St Pancras 1896
Forty-first annual report of the Medical Officer of Health on the vital and sanitary condition of the Borough of Saint Pancras, London
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The Table below shows the number of Inhabited Houses in each of the
sub-districts, and in St. Pancras, at the Census periods of 18S1 and 1891.
Unfortunately the Census Returns, under the Equalization of Rates Act, for 1896, did not include the number of houses:—
| Inhabited Houses. | Regent's Park. | Tottenham Court Road. | Gray's Inn Lane. | Somers Town. | Camden Town. | Kentish Town. | St. Pancras. | Changes. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Census 1881 | 4378 | 2420 | 2956 | 3202 | 1692 | 10057 | 24705 | |
| Difference | —192 | —86 | —236 | —260 | —215 | +727 | —252 | —989 (all but one + 727 (K.T. only) |
| Census, 1891 | 4186 | 2331 | 2720 | 2942 | 1477 | 10784 | 24413 |
Regent's Park. —In this sub-district, due to the extension of the London and
North-Western Railway Company's premises, the houses in Cardington Street
were found vacated at the Census of 1891, and they were subsequently
demolished. Fitzroy Row and also some of the houses in Fitzroy Place
were closed, have since been demolished, and factories and workshops constructed
in their place. Also, just before 1891 demolitions for a considerable
extension of the Seaton Street Board School took place, and a large site was
cleared of dwellings to make room for the electric lighting station in
Stanhope Street. These changes will account for the diminution of population
at the Census of 1891. The increase at the 1896 Census may be due to
reconstructions with increased accommodation. It is probable that the
population will now for some years remain more or less stationary.
Tottenham Court.—In this sub-district, between 1881 and 1891, there
appears to have been proceeding a diminution of population, probably caused
by the displacement of dwellings by shops, workshops, &c. But since 1891
this tide appears to have been receding.
Grays Inn Lane.—The Census of 1891 found a large number of houses in
the area just north of Cromer Street, in this sub-district, demolished, and new
model blocks of dwellings in course of erection; the Colonnade and other
places had also been demolished. This would account for the large diminution
in the population at this Census enumeration. The large increase at the
1896 Census would be accounted for by the completion and occupation of the
new blocks of dwellings, assisted by the opening, at the beginning of the year,
of the new building, Rowton House, in King's Cross Road.
Somers Town.—At the Census of 1891 a great number of houses in this subdistrict
had already been vacated to make room for the extension of the
Midland Railway Depots, and the Polygon had also been vacated for the
purpose of demolition. The reconstruction on the latter site in Clarendon
Square, and the occupation of the new blocks of buildings there, whilst
stemming the tide of decrease of population, did not altogether counterbalance
the continued diminution of numbers caused by the further closing and