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London Country Council.
Public Health Department,
Spring Gardens, S.W.,
December 10th, 1894.
Report by the Medical Officer of Health presenting a report by Dr.
Young on the Sanitary Condition and Administration of the
District of Bethnal.green.
(Ordered by the Public Health and Housing Committee to be printed.)
In presenting Dr. Young's report I beg to point out that whereas in London as a whole there
is one sanitary inspector to some 20,000 inhabitants, in Bethnal.green there is one sanitary inspector
to some 25,000 inhabitants. But while the staff of inspectors in Bethnal.green is below the London
average, if the district be compared with other districts in London in respect of conditions which make
claim on a sanitary authority it is found that these conditions more abundantly exist in Bethnal.green
than in most other London districts. Thus the persons inhabiting one or two rooms constitute in
Bethnal.green a larger proportion of the population than they do in two.thirds of the districts in
London. I am satisfied, therefore, the advice given by Dr. Young that another inspector should be forthwith
appointed, raising the total number of inspectors employed to six, deserves the approval of the
Committee. Beyond this I may add that my own experience of the district, obtained by a detailed
inspection in 1887, and by familiarity with its condition since I have held my present office, leads
me to the conclusion that this number of inspectors with sufficient clerical assistance is the very
smallest which will suffice for the administration of the district. The need of a shelter for persons
during the disinfection of their rooms is also properly insisted upon by Dr. Young.
Shirley F. Murphy,
Medical Officer of Health.
Dr. Young's Report.
The parish of St. Matthew, Bethnal.green, which forms the sanitary district of Bethnal.green,
is situated in the eastern part of the metropolis. It adjoins Whitechapel and Mile.end Old.town on the
south, has Shoreditch and Hackney on the north.west, and Poplar on the east.
The area of the parish is 755 acres, including about 17 acres of water, the latter being mainly
composed of ornamental water in Victoria.park.
The rateable value of the parish at the present time is £428,711.
At the date of the last census in 1891 there were 16,542 inhabited houses in the parish; at the
previous census in 1881 the number was 16,606. There has, therefore, during the decade, been a decrease
of 64, which is probably to be accounted for, to a large extent, by the fact that business premises have
replaced houses, and as the parish was already practically built over at the date of the earlier census, the
decrease has not been compensated by the erection of new houses.
Population—The parish of St. Matthew, Bethnal.green, forms a registration district, which is
divided into three registration sub.districts, namely : north, south, and east. When the census was
taken in 1891, the population was found to be 129,132; at the date of the previous census in 1881, it was
126,961; during the ten years there was, therefore, an increase of 2,171, or an increase of 1.7 per cent.
in the number of persons residing in the whole district.

These figures show that the small increase which has taken place in the total population of the
whole parish is due mainly to the change which has occurred in the east sub.district. In the south
sub.district the population has diminished. Dr. George Paddock Bate, the medical officer of health
of Bethnal.green, in his annual reports for the years 1892 and 1893, in dealing with the question
of population, states, that since the census was taken in 1891, the number of persons residing in
the parish has decreased, and he estimates that in the year 1892, the population was 127,030, which
further decreased in 1893 to 123,000. He bases his opinion on the fact that during each of these years
the number of registered births in the parish has been decreasing. Further, the demolition of houses
upon the Boundary.street area, cleared by the London County Council under the Housing of the Working
Classes Act, and the consequent removal of residents during the latter part of this period has probably
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