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London Country Council.
Public Health Department,
Spring Gardens, S.W.,
January 21st, 1896.
Report by the Medical Officer, submitting a report by Dr. Young on
the Sanitary Condition and Administration of the Parish of
Fulham.
(Ordered by the Public Health &c. Committee to be printed.)
I present a report by Dr. Young on the Sanitary Condition and Administration of the Parish
of Fulham. The recommendations embodied in the report should, I think, be adopted by the sanitary
authority.
Shirley F. Murphy,
Medical Officer of Health.
The sanitary district of Fulham is situated in the western part of the metropolitan area on the
north bank of the river Thames. The course of the river here makes a considerable curve and forms
the boundary of the district on the south-west, south, and south-east. On the north-west the boundary
is formed by Hammersmith, and on the east and north-east by Chelsea and Kensington.
The character of the soil of the district is practically the same throughout the area, and consists
of gravel and sand overlying the London clay. During the recent construction of a sewer in the
neighbourhood of Dawes-road the depth of the gravel at this part was found to be 27 feet.
The area of Fulham is 1,701 acres, including 8 acres of water. The adjacent tidal water and
foreshore is equal to an area of 156 acres.
Until the year 1886, Hammersmith and Fulham together formed one sanitary district under the
jurisdiction of the Fulham Board of Works. By the Metropolis Local Management Act, 1885, this
Board was dissolved, and the parish of Fulham was constituted a separate sanitary district under the
control of the Vestry of Fulham as the local authority.
The rateable value of the district at the present time is £511,738. I have extracted from the
annual reports of the vestry the rateable values at different periods since 1861, which show the large
increase that has taken place in this respect since that date. The figures are as follows :—
1861 £58,296 1881 £190,136
1871 100,121 1891 426,551
Under the Equalisation of Rates (London) Act, 1894, the amount payable to Fulham from the
equalisation fund for the half-year ending September, 1895, amounted to £4,299 0s. 8d., and for the
previous half-year to £4,402 3s. 6d., which is equivalent to the production of a rate in Fulham of nearly
4¾d. in the £1 for the whole year.
For statistical purposes the sanitary area of Fulham forms one of the sub-districts of the
registration district of Fulham, which includes three sub-districts, namely Fulham, St. Peter, Hammersmith,
and St. Paul, Hammersmith.

From these it is seen that there has been a very rapid increase in the population, and especially
since the year 1871, for whereas between 1861-1871 there was an increase of 50 per cent., between
1871-81 the increase was equal to about 83 per cent. of the population, and during the intercensal
period of 1881-91 the population more than doubled itself. This increase is no doubt largely due to
the extensive building of houses in the district, and the immigration of persons from the more central
parts of the metropolis.
At the date of the ordnance survey of London some thirty years ago the district of Fulham
consisted of four villages, namely, Fulham, North-end, Parsons-green, and Walham, separated by
land used chiefly for agricultural purposes; at the present time the greater part of this area, with the
exception of some 500 acres, for the most part situated along the bank of the river, has been built over,
and building operations are still being carried on. During the period which has elapsed since the
census was taken in 1891, considerable increase in the number of houses and of residents, has continued
to take place, though there is reason to believe that the rate of increase has not been quite so great as
during the period 1881-1891.
No. 274—Price 3d.
Sold by E. Stanford, 26 and 27, Cockspur-street, Charing-cress, S. W.
[6587