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
City of Westminster 1901
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Westminster, City of]
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Percentage of families or separate occupiers occupying tenements of less than five rooms:—
| - | Less than 5 Rooms. | 1 Room. | 2 Rooms. | 3 Rooms. | 4 Rooms. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| County of London | 65.9 | 14.7 | 20 | 18 | 13 |
| City of Westminster | 64.6 | 18 | 23 | 15 | 8 |
The proportion of single-room tenements, which averaged
14.7 per cent. in all London, ranged from 3.5 per cent. in Lewisham to
26.3 in Marylebone, 26.4 in Finsbury, and 27.0 in Holborn; Westminster
was 18, as compared Avith 23.4 in 1891. The proportion of tworoomed
tenements varied from 6 per cent. in Lewisham to 28 per cent.
in Holborn and Shoreditch, 29 in St. Pancras, and 33 in Finsbury.
Westminster was 23 (as compared with 25 per cent. in 1891), and the
County 20 per cent.
Although above the London average in regard to one and two
rooms, Westminster was below it when the three and four-room
tenements are compared. The lowest proportion of three-roomed
tenements was, in Kensington, 12 per cent.; the highest, Fulham,
25 per cent. The Westminster figure was 15 per cent. (as compared
with 14 per cent. in 1891); that tor London 18 per cent.
Four-roomed tenements were fewest in Holborn (7 per cent.),
Westminster, Marylebone, and Hampstead (each 8 per cent.); while
Poplar and Fulham (21 per cent.), Deptford and Greenwich
(20 per cent.), Woolwich (19 per cent.), and Battersea (18 per cent.)
had the greatest proportion of such dwellings.
The proportion of one and two-roomed tenements to total
tenements has decreased since 1891, while that of three and fourroomed
tenements has slightly increased.
Persons per Tenement.—In Table IV the number of persons
occupying the various classes of tenement is given. In the Census
Report for 1891, Dr. Ogle assumed, for the purpose of instituting a
comparison between various districts, that overcrowding existed if
there are more than two persons to each room of a given tenement.
This is obviously not a very reliable test, because in central districts
the old houses now utilised for tenements contain much larger rooms
than the cottages of the more suburban boroughs, and even of blocks
of workmen's dwellings. But employing the term " overcrowding"
in this manner, it appears that in the City of Westminster there were
1.599 one-roomed, 1,846 two-roomed, 729 three-roomed, and 172
four-roomed tenements so circumstanced.
The following table,