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potable water, and provision of a tap on the rising main to each floor of every house let in
lodgings. To none of these causes, however, do I attach greater importance than to the work of
the Council for improving the housing of the people in Kenley Street. The good effect of this
work is not limited to that street; for the frequent visits of the Housing Sub-Committee to the
locality, during its reconstruction, have tended to make owners of property in adjacent streets more
circumspect in regard to the condition of their houses (which with few exceptions are let in tenements),
and the character of the tenants. It has, moreover, had the further effect of making the
locality a less congenial resort for " undesirables." The result of the several beneficent influences
brought to bear upon the locality and the people, is seen in lessened sickness and lowered rate of
mortality, through which expenditure on Poor Law relief has been materially reduced*—a fact
that may tend to reconcile ratepayers to the temporary excess of outgoings over incomings consequent
to the Council's housing scheme, which will ultimately endow the Borough with a valuable
and unencumbered freehold estate.
NOTES.
The Origin of the Notting Dale Special Area was referred to in the annual report for 1892-3
is follows:—
1. "It began with the clearances in the District of St. Giles (Bloomsbury) when the
slums were swept away to make room for New Oxford Street. This was followed by other
clearances in St. Giles's, and in ' Camden Place ' off Notting Hill High Street, where ' Clanricarde
Gardens ' now stands, and in 'Jennings's Buildings,' off Kensington High Street, which was
demolished by Baron Grant. The houses in (the five streets in) the district indicated, were built
for a class of people superior to those who now, for the most part, inhabit them ; and it is to
be presumed that, not finding suitable tenants, they gradually got to be occupied, to a greater or
less extent." by the class of undesirables referred to in the report of the Special Committee of
1896. It is probable that many of the immigrants found their way, in the first, instance, to
the adjacent " Potteries " which formed the subject of an article by Charles Dickens, in the
issue of "Household Words," dated 10th August, 1850 (five years before the passing of the
Metropolis Management Act), descriptive of the wretched condition of the place and people."
Excerpt from the report of the Special Committee dated 18th June, 1896.
2. " The area in question is not an insanitary or unhealthy area as such. The situation is
open, the houses as structures are not bad, nor are the streets narrow or dark, the northern side
of William (now Kenley) Street, and the eastern side of St. Clement's (now Sirdar) Road,
actually abut upon Avondale Park. The situation is a healthy one, and in no way accounts for
the high death rate of the place," which is " due to the habits and conditions of the people
themselves "—characterised as " overcrowding, drunkenness and prostitution," with the result
that " undoubtedly a deplorable state of things exists . . . the ordinary laws of decency
being disregarded. . . . The locality (nevertheless), while containing some genuine poor,
cannot be described as a very poor one . . . Nor can the people be described as a flitting
population . . . Many persons have been resident in the place for years ; many go fruit
picking, hopping, &c., in the season . . . some work people and their families find homes
here ; but this does not leaven the mass ... A great number of rooms in the district are
let out as ' furnished apartments,' and as there is no legal control over the habits of the people
occupying rooms so let out, the result is as indicated. Houses of this kind and character should
be brought under control and registered as ' common lodging houses.' . . . It is but right
to say that, in condition, the common lodgiDg-houses are superior to those which are not, and
cannot be so, registered ; and for which, until quite recently, the Metropolitan Police were the
executive authority for carrying out the provisions of the Common Lodging Houses Acts
. . . but in 1894 a new Act was passed . . . and the powers theretofore possessed by
the Police were transferred to the London County Council."
8. The Question of Immorality. The late Vestry in their day made persistent efforts to
deal with houses suspected to be " disorderly," but with little success. The district was placed
under special nightly observation for a lengthened period in 1891-2, for the express purpose of
discovering whether any of the houses were used as brothels; but no evidence on which to
found proceedings was forthcoming. The assistance of the Police was sought in 1891, and
subsequently. In May, 1898, the Commissioner of Police wrote that observation had been kept
by the Police but no evidence had been obtained which would be of any use to the Vestry, f In
May, 1905, however, complaint having been received with regard to the character of two common
lodging-houses—one in Crescent Street, the other in Sirdar Road, the Council's Law Committee
approached the Commissioner of Police, whose co-operation having been obtained, and evidence
been forthcoming, " proceedings were taken against the (women) Deputies in charge of the two
houses mentioned, for permitting them to be used for immoral purposes." Convictions were
obtained, the maximum penalty was imposed, and in default the women were sent to gaol; the
magistrate, however, stating that he '• found it impossible to believe that the prisoners acted
otherwise than with the full knowledge of their employer," the " keeper," who owned other
common lodging-houses in the Area. The facts of the cases were brought to the attention of the
County Council, and ultimately licenses were granted to another person for all of the man's
houses upon condition that the two in regard to which the proceedings were instituted should be
utilised for persons of the male sex only. (Vide Mayoral Minute 1904-5, page 40.)
*The estimated reduction of expenditure in regard to the indoor sick, alone, in 1906, as compared with 1896, was
approximately £550.
†Vide Annual Report for 1903, pp. 160-61.