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
City of London 1900
Report on the proceedings of the Public Health (Sanitary) Department of the Corporation of London during the year 1900
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forming the home of a large family is unsatisfactory,
in that no account is taken of the size
of the rooms, provision for lighting, ventilation,
&c.—all factors of great importance. In connection
with the returns of housing, it has been
decided that when the occupants of a tenement
average more than two per room, such tenement
shall be deemed to be overcrowded. Fanciful as
such a standard may appear at first sight to be,
it is not without its use, and certain facts in
connection with the evil effects of overcrowding
have been collated, which tend to show that the
standard is not altogether an arbitrary one. The
differences in the conditions prevailing in the
City, the Metropolis, and the Central Metropolitan
Districts are indicated in the appended
Tables:—