Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Finsbury Borough]
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In 1963 4 samples of butter were examined and none were found to
be adulterated.
Margarine. In 6 cases prosecutions were carried out in 1901 in relation
to the non-labelling of margarine on the wrapper in which it was sold.
2 of these cases were however dismissed, and in 2 cases the summonses
were withdrawn. No similar contraventions were discovered in 1963.
Sampling Generally. 127 other articles of food were sampled in 1901,
and 11 were found to be adulterated as follows: Mustard 1; Cocoa 2;
Coffee 4; Sugar 1; Rum 1; Whiskey 2; Successful prosecutions were
undertaken in 4 cases.
In 1963 620 samples were submitted for analysis of which none
were unsatisfactory.
HOUSING
It is recorded that in 1901 there were 9, 280 houses but no blocks of
flats were included, as such there must have been about 13,000 separate
dwellings. In 1963 it is estimated that the number was 9,262. It
would seem that the number of dwellings has not decreased as much as
is sometimes thought.
A number of blocks of flats which are now regarded as slum
property such as Dundee. Corporation and Bartholomew Buildings, were
described in 1901 as model dwellings and appear to have been regarded
as such.
Overcrowding if reckoned by the number of persons per acre was clearly
about three times more than at the present time, and if measured by
the number of persons living in a given number of rooms, the great
improvement since the foundation of Finsbury is shown by the following
table:-
1901 | 5295 | 3904 | 2165 | 1176 | 490 | 88 | 36 | 51 | 13,205=13.1% of Population |
1961 | 75 | 44 | 25 | 6 | - | - | - | - | 150=0.5% of Population |
1901 | 6200 | 6048 | 4438 | 2256 | 918 | 29 | 20,289=20.1% of Population | ||
1961 | 405 | 186 | 28 | 32 | - | - | 651=2.0% of Population |