View report page

To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Metropolitan Borough of Poplar„
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit my Annual Report on the
health and sanitary circumstances of the Borough for 1952.
The Borough of Poplar is long and narrow in shape and
forms part of the eastern boundary of the County of London.
From north to south it extends for about 4½ miles whilst its
average width from east to west is less than one mile. The
Borough was formed by the union of Poplar and Bow and even
after more than half a century these two areas retain their
individuality. Poplar in the south contains the East India,
West India and Millwall Docks, and the population shows
evidence of its long association with the sea and sea-borne
trade. There is also in Poplar a community of Irish ancestry
which is mainly derived from the Irish labourers who assisted
in the construction of the Blackwall Tunnel towards the end
of the nineteenth century.
The inhabitants of Bow in the north are typical of the
Londoner as he is known to the whole world and they are justly
proud of being the real east-enders. There is a considerable
amount of light industry in Bow and some heavy industry.
The general standard of the older houses throughout the
Borough is poor. The houses are mainly in terraces built in
the second half of the 19th century, somewhat less crowded
than in other areas of East London, but poorly arranged and
with amenities far below the present day standards. In
contrast with the older houses the houses and flats built
by the Poplar Borough Council and the London County Council
provide some thousands of excellent dwellings of which the
well known Lansbury Estate built by the London County
Council provides examples.
Whilst the large docks provide a means of access for
cases of smallpox and other diseases which are not endemic
in this country, the improving standards in the control of
infections throughout the world have reduced what was a very
6.