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
Holborn 1923
Annual report of the Medical Officer of Health, for the year 1923
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occupied by working classes. Of the 205 non-registered houses, 28 were block
dwellings, one block being counted as one house. The 28 blocks included 587
tenements The total number of buildings in the Borough occupied for dwelling
purposes is given by the Census, 1921, as 3,473. The number of tenements
occupied by working classes as returned to the London County Council is 8,571.
This figure represents the total tenements in the Borough consisting of one, two,
three or four rooms.
Generally throughout the Borough buildings are constructed with basements. Efforts were made to ascertain the number of such basements used for dwelling purposes with the following results: —
| (a) Number of basements in the Borough used for dwelling purposes | 1,262 |
| (b) Number of basement dwellings in the Borough with ceilings at or below street level | 471 |
| (c) Number of basement dwellings in which the width o f area in street does not exceed 3 feet | 421 |
| (d) Number of basement dwellings in which the width of the area in street does not exceed 4 feet | 107 |
The figures cannot be considered to be any more than approximate; they were
obtained by external inspection from the streets and relate only to front basements
in accordance with a request made in order to obtain a rough census of the
basement dwellings throughout London.
It was observed that a number of areas into which basement rooms opened
were painted or distempered in dark colours; with a view to secure, as far as
possible, use of white or light coloured paint or distemper for such purposes a
communication was sent to a number of builders in the Borough asking them to
encourage their customers to have areas so painted or distempered.
1.—GENERAL.
| (1) Estimated population | 43,376 |
| (2) General death rate | 13.3 |
| (3) Death-rate from tuberculosis (all forms) | 1.19 |
| (4) Infantile mortality rate | 72 |
| *(5) Number of buildings containing dwellings (Census, 1921) | 3,473 |
| ‡(6) Number of separate dwellings (Census, 1921) | 7,202 |
| ‡(6) Number of working-class tenements | 8,571 |
| (7) Number of new working-class houses erected | nil |
*" Buildings."—A structure wholly detached or separated from another by a party wall,
e.g., a block of flats is one building.
†" Separate dwelling," i.e., having separate access to street or common landing or
staircase, e.g., each flat in a block is a separate dwelling, but a private house not structurally
divided is a single unit whether occupied by one or more families.
‡"Working-class tenements," i.e., separate occupations of one, two, three or four rooms
only.