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33
The chief facts concerning these ten condemned areas may be
briefly mentioned, and for convenience the six areas which the
County Council decided should be dealt with by the Local Authority,
now the Finsbury Borough Council, may be taken first.
They are situated: three on the south side of Old Street, and are
known as Beckford Square, Tilney Court and Young's Buildings
(in the latter area is included two houses in Old Street and eleven
in Whitecross Street); and three on the north side of Old Street,
known as Central Street (comprising Nos. 2 to 36 in that thoroughfare,
two houses in Old Street, being Nos. 81 and 83, Whitby
Court at the rear of Central Street, and two houses in Mitchell
Street, being Nos. 2 and 4). Bastwick Street Area, comprising
Nos. 13 to 38 in that street, and Ludlow Street, the houses of which
back on to Nos. 2 to 30 in Gee Street, and by which they are
rendered insanitary by reason of their closeness thereto.
One hundred and thirty-five deaths occurred in the six areas
during the five years 1895-1899, of which 86 occurred in the
northern and 49 in the southern areas. The total deaths equalled
315 per 1,000 per annum of the population, and dividing these
figures between the two districts the death rate was 30 6 per 1,000
in the north and 32 8 in the south.
The deaths of children five years of age and under numbered 59,
being at the rate of 43.7 per cent., and from phthisis the death rate
was 30.3 per cent. Average death rate from same cause was
10 8 per cent.
The death rate for St. Luke's for five years averaged 26.5 per
1,000, 43 9 per cent, being under five.
i. Beckford Square, Old Street, is a cul de sac,
approached by an archway formed by two houses, Nos. 122-124,
on the south side of Old Street. It consists of an open courtway
containing 14 houses, seven on each side, each house having four
rooms situated one above another, and occupied by four families
each. In each house there is a disused cellar, occasionally used for
storage.
c