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
Bermondsey 1934
Report on the sanitary condition of the Borough of Bermondsey for the year 1934
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(66)
Number of families with accommodation of:—
| 1 person or less to a room | 19,887 | 16,444 |
| 2 persons to a room | 6,634 | 9,781 |
| 3 „ | 1,902 | 1,757 |
| 4 „ | 585 | 433 |
| 5 „ | 192 | 113 |
| 6 „ | 55 | 32 |
| 7 „ | 24 | 8 |
| 8 „ | 2 | 3 |
| 9 „ | – | – |
| 10 „ | 2 | – |
| 11 „ | 1 | – |
"The Committee is well aware that a separate Housing
Department has been established, and that it has been probably
one of the most active in the country, and yet I cannot believe
that the Committee will be satisfied with a comparison of these
two sets of figures. I would emphasise the fact that the total
number of overcrowded families, using a standard of two or more
to a room, is still 2,346, as compared with 2,863 in 1927, and this is
in spite of unprecedented activity on the part of the Housing
Department.
"I would also like to draw attention to the number of houses
let in lodgings which is 1,603, a higher figure than I estimated in
my report.
" I suggest that in order to deal with overcrowding there are
four requisites: —
(1.) The extent of this form of nuisance must be ascertained,
for it must be remembered that overcrowding is a statutory
nuisance under the Public Health (London) Act, and