London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Fulham 1935
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Fulham Borough]
This page requires JavaScript
59
The Borough is divided into eight wards, of which half have densities of more than
.00 persons per acre, as shown in the following table. There are 106 out of a total of 307
vards in London with a population density of more than 100 persons per acre.
TABLE 18. WARDS IN FULHAM WITH HIGH POPULATION DENSITIES—100 OR MORE PERSONS PER ACRE, CENSUS, 1931.
| Ward. | No. in the London List. | Area in Acres. | Population. | Average No. of Persons per Acre. | Average No. of structurally separate Dwellings occupied per Acre. | Average No. of Families per structurally separate Dwelling. | Average No. of Persons per Family. | No. of Private Familioe. | Persons per Room. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LILLIE | 53 | 177 | 23,173 | 130.9 | 21.5 | 1.77 | 3.30 | 6,754 | 1.05 |
| MARGRAVINE | 77 | 147 | 16,843 | 114.6 | 18.0 | 1.64 | 3.61 | 4,336 | 1.10 |
| WALHAM | 98 | 140 | 14,375 | 102.7 | 15.7 | 1.78 | 3.58 | 3,935 | 1.15 |
| MUNSTER | 101 | 339 | 34,403 | 101.5 | 18.4 | 1.60 | 3.43 | 9,973 | 1.01 |
* i.e. list of wards in London arranged from highest to lowest according to density.
In considering the figures set out in the foregoing tables it should be remembered
that properly constructed flats are counted as separate dwellings. There are in the Borough
therefore, a considerable number of working class houses which are congested on the site
and which have facilities which on the standard of Section 62 of the Housing Act, 1930, arc
inadequate; washing and drying accommodation, yard space, cooking facilities, food stores,
water and closet accommodation, and various other necessities which might be made adequate
for one family are not available and cannot be provided for two families.
This is illustrated by a special inquiry into bathroom accommodation made for the
purposes of a Ministry of Health inquiry on the Council's application for a loan sanction to
modernise the swimming baths. There are in round figures, 26,000 structurally separate
houses in the Borough. Of these 11,000 (42 per cent.) contain no bathrooms. Over
20,000 families (47 per cent.) out of some 43,000 in the Borough inhabit these houses. Many
houses which have bathrooms are let to two or more families, one of which has no access
to the bathroom. A very great proportion of the poorer working class houses in the Borough
are let in multiple family occupation and have no bathroom.