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
Erith 1937
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Erith]
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40
At the 31st December, 1937, 937 certificates dealing with
8,499 premises had been issued.
At the meeting of the Health and Buildings Committer held during February, 1937, a special report was submitted, re viewing the 59 cases of overcrowding which were outstanding at the 31st December, 1936, and revealing that 39 of these case had been proved to be uncrowded, as shown hereunder, whicl left 20 cases still to be dealt with.
| Overcrowding abated by— | No. of cases | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Removal ot sub-tenants or lodgers | 8 | ||
| Reduction in number of members of the family | 11 | ||
| Marriage or death of an occupant | 7 | ||
| Removal of tenant to other and adequate premises ... | 3 | ||
| Re-arrangement of occupants or adjustment in allocation of rooms, etc. | 10 | ||
| 39 |
In the course of this review 22 specific review cases were
investigated, these were cases which had arisen since the
preliminary survey, and which were caused by : —
(a) Children attaining the ages of either 1 or 10 years.
(b) 4 Borderline ' cases which appeared overcrowded, and
in which the premises required measuring.
Visits were paid in each case and form ' B ' completed,
which proved that in 11 cases the premises were not overcrowded,
but that in the remaining 11 cases under this review overcrowding
existed.
Facts regarding the 20 cases of overcrowding existing from the preliminary survey, together with the 11 cases of overcrowding which arose during the review, are as shown in the following table, which indicates the ratio of overcrowding expressed in persons per house : —
| No. of persons per house causing overcrowding | No. of Cases | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| ½ | 12 | ||
| 1 | 11 | ||
| 1½ | 3 | ||
| 2 | 3 | ||
| 2½ | 1 | ||
| 4 | 1 | ||
| Total | 31 |