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
Southwark 1938
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Southwark, Borough of]
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| Area (in acres) | 1,132 |
| Population (estimated, 1938) | 145,300 |
| Number of inhabited houses (end of 1938) according to rate books | 29,113 |
| Rateable value | £1,293,533 |
| Sum represented by penny rate | £5,212 |
SOCIAL CONDITIONS.
The Metropolitan Borough of Southwark lies to the South of the
River Thames and covers an area of 1,165 acres. The district is of two
characters, namely, industrial and residential. The principal trades
carried on in the industrial area comprise food manufacture, wharfage,
engineering and printing. The population is principally of the artisan
class, many of whom are engaged in local factories and workshops in
Southwark, and the adjoining Boroughs of Bermondsey and Lambeth,
also in the Cities of London and Westminster.
Unfortunately, a considerable amount of unemployment exists in the Borough, and the official figures at the end of December were:—
| Men | 5,892 |
| Women | 2,170 |
| Juveniles | 221 |
| Total | 8,283 |
In the residential area many of the small cottage properties which
formerly existed have been demolished and in their place new blocks of
modern dwellings have been erected.
The Council, being a riparian authority, is responsible for the
supervision of thousands of tons of foodstuffs imported into this country
every year, both at the wharves and also at the main line railway depot
in Gravel Lane, into which large quantities of continental foodstuffs are
brought by train-ferry.