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
Paddington 1921
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Paddington, Metropolitan Borough of]
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36
housing
The distribution of the occupants in tenements of various sizes is shown in the appended statement:— Percentages of Total Occupants.
| Tenements comprising | 1913 | 1921 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Room | 22.74 | 16.46 |
| 2 Rooms | 49.86 | 48.90 |
| 3 ,, | 17.20 | 19.44 |
| 4 ,, | 59.7 | 9.50 |
| 5 Rooms and over | 4.20 | 5.67 |
Single-room tenements decreased from 1,400 to 1,103—a fall of 21*3 per cent.—whereas
all other tenements show increases :—
Those of 2 rooms from 1480 to 1573 — increase 6.2 per cent. ;
3 „ „ 429 „ 501 „ 16.7„ ;
4 „ „ 146 „ 213 „ 45 9 „ ; and
„ 5 and over „ 95 „ 113 „ 18'9 „ ;
The averages per tenement and room—taking each category of tenements as a whole— are shown below:— In all Tenements of each Category.
| No. of Rooms. | Total No. Rooms. | Total Population. | No. of Occupants. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Per Tenement. | Per Room. | |||||||
| 1913 | 1921 | 1913 | 1921 | 19.13 | 1921 | 1913 | 1921 | |
| 1 | 1400 | 1103 | 2866 | 2080 | 2.04 | 1.88 | 2.04 | 1.88 |
| 2 | 2960 | 3146 | 6282 | 6178 | 4.24 | 3.92 | 2.12 | 1.96 |
| 3 | 1287 | 1503 | 2168 | 2456 | 5.05 | 4.90 | 1.68 | 1.63 |
| 4 | 584 | 852 | 753 | 1201 | 5.15 | 5.63 | 1.29 | 1.41 |
| 5 and over 573 | 758 | 530 | 717 | 5.75 | 6.34 | 0.92 | 0.94 | |
The only categories of tenements in which the average number of occupants exceeded the
theoretical standard of "crowding," viz., an excess of 2 persons of all ages per room—were the
1-room and 2-room tenements inspected in 1913. In 1921 the only class tenement notably
approaching that limit were the 2-room tenements with an average of 1.96 persons per room.
The foregoing calculations indicate a distinct improvement in housing. The figures now
to be set out may be regarded as even more satisfactory. In this part of the subject consideration
will be limited to tenements containing less than 5 rooms.
Examination of the detailed tabulations for the two years—not included in this report—
show that at each enumeration there were many tenements with more than two persons (of
all ages) per room. The recorded numbers of such tenements are:—
1 room 1913 352 1921 250 — decrease 29.0 per cent.
2 rooms 639 541 — „ 14.7 „
3 rooms 106 114 — increase 7.5 „
4 rooms 10 22 — „ 12.0 „
In 1913 47.2 per cent. of the total occupants of all the tenements inspected lived in
tenements thus "crowded", the proportion falling to 39.9 in 1921. The changes of the proportions
in the various sizes of tenements were—
Percentages of Total Occupants of Inspected Tenements.
| No. of Rooms. | 1913 | 1921 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10.19 | 6.71 |
| 2 | 29.64 | 25.07 |
| 3 | 6.66 | 7.05 |
| 4 | 0.73 | 1.05 |
Children under 10 years of age are more prejudiced by "crowding" than are their seniors.
It is satisfactory to observe that the number of children in such tenements fell from 2,821 (74.3
per cent of all children under 10 living in tenements of less than 5 rooms) to 2,257 (66.9 per
cent)—equal to a reduction of 20 per cent.
In the foregoing paragraphs the theoretical standard of "crowding"—the RegistrarGeneral's
test of overcrowding—has been used. That standard is no measure of legal overcrowding
as defined in the Bye Laws for Houses let in Lodgings. To convert the theoretical
standard to the legal is impossible without knowledge of the actual dimensions of the rooms
forming the tenement. From a general knowledge of the houses in which the tenements
furnishing the data which have been discussed in the preceding paragraphs, it may be
surmised that (on an average) 4 persons per room would not constitute legal overcrowding.