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
Kensington 1933
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington Borough]
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41
COMMON LODGING HOUSES.
The Transfer of Powers (London) Order, dated March 9th, 1933, transferred as from the 1st April,
1933, the functions of the London county council with respect to common lodging houses in
Kensington to the borough council.
Common lodging houses must be licensed annually, and the licences in force when the council
took over expired in June, 1933.
Applications for renewal of licences were received in respect of each of the five common
lodging houses in the borough and the public health committee, after consideration of all the
circumstances, decided to renew them on the same terms as the ones which were granted the
previous year by the county council.
The following table shows the number of cases of overcrowding and indecent occupation detected in the last seven years and the effectiveness of the action taken can be deduced therefrom.
| Overcrowding | 1927 | 1928 | 1929 | 1930 | 1931 | 1932 | 1933 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intimation notices served | 88 | 72 | 33 | 25 | 42 | 84 | 45 |
| Statutory notices served where the intimation notice was not complied with | 28 | 10 | 13 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 4 |
| Summonses issued | 9 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Indecent Occupation :— Intimation notices served | 92 | 84 | 23 | 27 | 16 | 28 | 37 |
| Statutory notices served where the intimation notice was not complied with | 2 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 1 | - | - |
| Summonses issued | - | 1 | - | 1 | - | - | - |
MEASURES TAKEN TO DEAL WITH OVERCROWDING AND INDECENT OCCUPATION.
In houses let in lodgings, of which there are several thousand in Kensington, the council can
take action to prevent overcrowding unless each occupant has the amount of cubic feet of air space
set out below :—
Each person Each person
over 10 years under 10 years
must have in a must have in'a
room used room used room used room used
exclusively. for living exclusively for living
for sleeping and sleeping for sleeping and sleeping
c. ft. c. ft. c. ft. c. ft.
Existing by.laws for a rent.restricted room
in a house let in lodgings 300 400 150 200
Existing by.laws for a decontrolled room
in a house let in lodgings 400 400 300 300
In private dwelling houses there is no legal standard of overcrowding, but the sanitary inspectors
regard such a condition to exist unless the occupants are provided with the air space set out above.
In houses let in lodgings it is illegal to permit a sleeping room to be occupied by persons of the
opposite sexes over 12 years of age not living as man and wife ; there is no power to deal with such
indecent occupation in private dwelling houses.
When a sanitary inspector discovers a case of overcrowding in any house, or a case of
indecent occupation in a house let in lodgings, an intimation notice is served and the facts are
reported to the next meeting of the public health committee.
The following table shows details of the accommodation available in the common lodging houses :—
| Ward. | Name of registered keeper. | Address of common lodging house. | No. of lodgers for which licensed in 1933. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male. | Female. | Total. | |||
| Golborne | Chesterton, Ada Elizabeth | 194, Kensal Road | — | 71 | 71 |
| Norland | Hankins, John W. | 28 & 30, Crescent Street | 54 | — | 54 |
| M | Woodhouse, Jane E. | 40, do. | — | 25 | 25 |
| „ | Alexander, Agnes Mary | 25 & 27, do. | — | 43 | 43 |
| Cooper, Sagle | 66, St. Ann's Road | 66 | — | 66 | |
| Totals | 120 | 139 | 259 | ||
As only 27 summonses were eventually issued in 389 cases of overcrowding, and only two
summonses in regard to 307 cases of indecent occupation in the seven years, it will be seen that
667 families were able to improve their accommodation without the council having to resort to
extreme measures.