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56
After referring to various improvements, including the construction
of Rosebery Avenue, Dr. Young says: "There are still, however,
"in the district some narrow streets, and some courts and alleys
"which are open only at one end, and which in many cases are
"approached by an archway from the main street. These mostly
"contain houses two storeys high, some of which are old and worn
"out, or show signs.of dampness of walls, or are unprovided with
"back yards, or have no means of through ventilation. Many of
"these houses contain but two rooms, the one above the other, the
"outer door opening directly into the ground floor room in which
"the staircase leading to the upper floor is placed." Dr. Young
then names and describes nineteen courts and alleys where those
sort of houses exist. "The average number of persons," he says,
" to each inhabited house (throughout Clerkenwell) has increased
from 9.2 in 1861 to 10 4 in 1891 and to 11.2 in 1896." In London
as a whole, in 1891, there were on an average 7.7 persons to each
inhabited house.
I regret that there are not similar records to the above so far
back as 1851 with respect to the parish of St. Luke, which now
forms the Eastern division of the Borough of Finsbury, so that it is
impossible to produce evidence as to the condition of its house
property at that time. Generally speaking, it may be said
that the description applying to Clerkenwell would apply with
equal truth to St. Luke, and, in any case, overcrowding was not
less prevalent in St. Luke. I find that the average number of
residents to each acre in 1851, 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1896 was 245,
232, 198, 179, 175; in London as a whole, in 1896, there were
59 persons to the acre. The average number of persons to each
inhabited house in St. Luke in 1871, 1881 and 1891 was 9.3, 9.7
and 10.7 respectively as compared with an average of 7.7 persons
per house in London as a whole in 1891. So that roughly it may be
said that the population to the acre was more dense in St. Luke in
the past than in Clerkenwell, and that this figure has steadily
declined whilst persons per house have increased.
Present Conditions.—Having now briefly considered the
history of house property, and having seen in the record the steady
rise of density of population per house, and the steady decline of the