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Because of the difficulty of ascertaining the full extent of the
overcrowding a midnight inspection of 9 houses in Bastwick Street was
undertaken, on one occasion in 1901. It was discovered that in these
houses 158 adults and 114 children under ten were sleeping. Some
details were given in the report of a sample of ten rooms in each of
which 7 or 8 persons were sleeping.
Overcrowding is reported in 1963 as still persisting in a number
of houses and tenements, but not to anything like the degree that it
did in 1901 nor to anything like the same extent. Although the number
of cases referred to in the report, namely 28, was certainly considerably
below the actual figure, many instances not being known to the Medical
Officer of Health, the true figure was not likely to be more than 200,
as compared with many times that number in 1901 and examples such as
those described with 7 or 8 sleeping in one room were unheard of in
1963.
The character of the housing conditions prevailing in 1901 is
well set out in the following extract from the report for 1901
A large part of the borough area is covered by warehouses factories
workshops or small shops, in immediate proximity to, and often crowded
together with, dwelling-houses. The majority of these dwelling-houses
are chiefly of two or three storeys, situated in narrow streets and
alleys off main thoroughfares. Many of them are small, old cottages
showing signs of decay. Such generally contain two rooms, one on the
ground floor and one above, the communicating staircase being situated
in the ground floor room, into which also the door from the street
directly opens. Most of the houses have small back yards. These houses
are generally occupied by single families, but in some cases by two,
though from this arrangement they are ill-adapted for this purpose.
The houses of three storeys are chiefly in the larger thoroughfares.
They generally contain an entrance passage and two rooms, one behind
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