View report page

5
NATURAL AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS OF THE
DISTRICT.
Population and Houses.
The enumerated population at the Census taken on Sunday, June 19th, 1921,
was 42,796, a reduction of 6,561 on the previous census of 1911 or 13.3 per cent.
During the previous decennium 1901-1911 there was a reduction of 10,048 or 16.9
per cent.
The following estimate of population as supplied by the Registrar-General
has been adopted for the calculation of the death-rate and birth-rate of the
Borough for the year 1921—43,520.
At the Census 1911 the number of inhabited buildings was 7,985, and
uninhabited (i.e., used for business purposes only) 1,393, and 38 were in course of
erection. 33.1 per cent. of the population lived in tenements of only one or two
rooms and 59.5 per cent. in tenements of 1-4 rooms. The density of the population
was 122 persons per acre in comparison with 61 for London.
The character of population shows wide and striking contrasts, including as it
does the occupants of expensive residential flats, the migratory population in
the large hotels, the student class in the Bloomsbury boarding houses, residents
in large commercial, social and philanthropic hostels, working class population
in model dwellings and tenement lodging houses, and a large proportion of very
poor people in common lodging houses.
Although the number of Hotels and Boarding Houses keeps increasing, the
Borough is becoming less and less residential and more and more important as a
business centre. The number of factories, workshops, workplaces and offices keeps
increasing so that we are adding to our very large and crowded day population
of London' sworkers.
The chief occupations of the Borough are: Professional (Law, Architecture,
etc.); Public Societies' and Commercial Offices; Hotels and Boarding Houses;
Printing and Bookbinding; Metal Refining; Precious stones and general trades and
businesses.
The population in the 999 L.C.C. tenements in the Borough was
estimated at 3,688. The number of deaths was 30 or a death-rate of 8.1 per 1,000.