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
Finsbury 1902
Report on the public health of 1902
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153
were not contained in the Parliamentary Census Report issued in
1901. In so far as these facts respect overcrowding brief
reference must be made to them.
The total population of the Borough is 101,463. The number
of houses is 9,280, and hence the number of persons per house is
10.9. This is only a relative figure on account of the "model
dwellings," for which the census enumerators return "separate
blocks" as houses, with the result that in Finsbury (where such
dwellings are very numerous) we obtain 92 houses (or separate
blocks) containing 17,130 persons, or 186 persons per house (or
separate block). But even with adjustments, the return of persons
per house comes out at 9, as compared with the London average
of 7.8 per house. The Borough of Finsbury unfortunately
occupies the unenviable position of being one of the most " overcrowded
" districts of London. The explanation of this will be
found in what has already been said in relation to house property
and the transition stage in which Central Districts, and particularly
Finsbury, find themselves.
In the Census of 1891 it was found that the total number of tenements in Clerkenwell and St. Luke together were 26,188, 22,432 of which were tenements of less than five rooms:—
| Clerkenwell and St. Luke. | Rooms in tenement. | Tenements of less than 5 rooms. | Persons per Tenement. | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | a | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 ormore | |||
When we turn to the inhabitants of these tenements, we find
that as many as 79.5 per cent, of the whole population of the
Borough live in tenements of less than five rooms; 20,912
persons live in single-room homes (i.e., 19.3 per cent, of the