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
London County Council 1909
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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| Year. | No. of houses on register. | Authorised number of lodgers. | No. of day visits by inspectors. | No. of night visits. | No. of prosecutions. | No. of convictions. | Penalties and oosts. | No. of cases of infectious disease. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £ | s. | d. | ||||||||
| 1900 | 528 | 28,311 | 28,428 | 668 | 16 | 13 | 102 | 15 | 0 | 40 |
| 1901 | 514 | 28,037 | 35,225 | 2,133 | 16 | 15 | 96 | 3 | 0 | 166 |
| 1902 | 491 | 28,970 | 40,512 | 1,449 | 22 | 21 | 98 | 4 | 0 | 684 |
| 1903 | 470 | 28,893 | 33,402 | 4,790 | 6 | 6 | 26 | 11 | 0 | 53 |
| 1904 | 451 | 28,896 | 27,501 | 2,970 | 15 | 14 | 62 | 6 | 0 | 66 |
| 1905 | 413 | 27,571 | 28,158 | 1,565 | 21 | 16 | 77 | 3 | 0 | 14 |
| 1906 | 402 | 28,063 | 30,028 | 2,349 | 4 | 4 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 22 |
| 1907 | 395 | 28,651 | 33,630 | 2,307 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 9 | 0 | 27 |
| 1908 | 387 | 28,379 | 32,297 | 2,429 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 13 |
| 1909 | 383 | 28,302 | 29,324 | 1,286 | 3 | 3 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 19 |
It will be observed that since 1894 the number of common lodging-houses has steadily diminished.
This reduction, however, is more apparent than real, inasmuch as in the earlier year every house was
separately counted, whereas now adjoining houses in the same occupation are counted as one house
and included under one licence. It will be seen, moreover, that although the number of houses has
been reduced the authorised number of beds varies but little, thus showing, as I have before pointed out,
that there is a tendency for the smaller houses to be replaced by a smaller number of larger houses.
The number of cases of notifiable infectious disease reported in common lodging-houses was as
follows :—Erysipelas, 7 ; scarlet fever, 5 : diphtheria. 3 : enteric fever, 4—Total, 19.
The following table shows the total number of common lodging-houses, and the authorised accommodation for the different classes of lodgers in the several sanitary areas of London, other than that of the City, on 31st December, 1909 .—
| Sanitary district. | No. of houses. | Authorised accommodation. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men. | Women. | Couples. | Total. | ||
| Battersea | 8 | 157 | 78 | 23 | 281 |
| Bermondsey | 5 | 1,073 | — | — | 1,073 |
| Bethnal Green | 14 | 712 | — | — | 712 |
| Camberwell | 6 | 536 | — | — | 536 |
| Chelsea | 6 | 248 | — | — | 248 |
| Deptford | 8 | 1,155 | 80 | — | 1,235 |
| Finsbury | 8 | 539 | — | — | 539 |
| Fulham | 2 | 43 | 51 | — | 94 |
| Greenwich | 4 | 150 | — | — | 150 |
| Hackney | 7 | 495 | — | — | 495 |
| Hammersmith | 9 | 466 | — | 4 | 474 |
| Hampstead | — | — | — | — | |
| Holborn | 27 | 1,629 | 162 | — | 1,791 |
| Islington | 43 | 1,228 | 276 | 18 | 1,540 |
| Kensington | 24 | 431 | 272 | — | 703 |
| Lambeth | 7 | 693 | — | — | 693 |
| Lewisham | 1 | 30 | — | — | 30 |
| Paddington | 7 | 195 | 40 | — | 235 |
| Poplar | 9 | 1,143 | — | — | 1,143 |
| St. Marylebone | 17 | 1,306 | 109 | — | 1,415 |
| St. Pancras | 9 | 727 | 36 | — | 763 |
| Shoreditch | 12 | 765 | — | — | 765 |
| Southwark | 44 | 3,379 | 449 | — | 3,828 |
| StepDey | 54 | 5,310 | 667 | 180 | 6,337 |
| Stoke Newington | 1 | 37 | — | — | 37 |
| Wandsworth | 10 | 185 | 5 | 20 | 230 |
| Westminster, City of | 17 | 2,300 | 75 | — | 2,375 |
| Woolwich | 24 | 536 | 44 | — | 580 |
| London—excluding the City of London | 383 | 25,468 | 2,344 | 245 | 28,302 |
Deaths among inmates of common lodging-houses.
The following table shows the proportion of deaths from several causes per 1,000 deaths
among males in common lodging-houses, the corresponding figures for London being shown for comparative
purposes. The deaths of persons removed from common lodging-houses to public
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