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7
As regards overcrowding (using this word to include cases in which there was found to be less
than 300 cubic feet per person in rooms used exclusively as sleeping rooms and less than 400 cubic
feet per person in rooms not used exclusively as sleeping rooms, two children under 10 being reckoned
as an adult), this condition was found in no less than 179 instances.*
It remains to be added that I found a large number of illegally occupied underground rooms
during the course of my inspection.

It will be seen how unfavourable is the position taken by St. Pancras, more particularly as
regards the groups of defective conditions dealt with in the three last columns above. Undoubtedly
the most serious fact brought out as the result of my inquiry is the remarkable prevalence of overcrowding,
31 cases of overcrowding being noted in every 100 houses visited. Hardly less serious is the
fact that 51 houses out of every 100 were found to be in a markedly dirty or dilapidated condition. It
may be added that 48 of the houses visited, or about one in every 12, were in such a state that they
can only be described as infested with vermin.
The distribution of dirty, dilapidated and overcrowded houses.—Gases of overcrowding were
encountered with greater frequency in some parts of the parish than in others, but in no one of the
districts allotted to the eight district sanitary inspectors, was there a less amount of overcrowding than
was found in 1894 in the east-end districts, Whitechapel and Mile End Old Town. While the overcrowding
in St. Pancras is thus widely diffused it especially alfects, as it does elsewhere in London,
particular streets, and in these streets it is usually found with greater frequency in certain groups of
houses, all the houses of each of these groups being generally found to be in a common ownership.
Such groups of houses in addition to being overcrowded are almost invariably dilapidated and
extremely dirty.
In an inquiry such as that I have made in St. Pancras, it has not been possible, owing to the
large extent of ground to be covered, to inspect in detail any large number of the groups of houses of
the kind now in question. In dealing with a limited area in Plumstead early in the present year I
was able to collect the facts concerning nine groups of houses of the character referred to and to show
how marked was the contrast between these houses and other neighbouring houses similarly circumstanced
save as regards ownership. In St. Pancras I found reasons for concluding that a large number
of similar groups existed, but I was only able to examine a few of them in any detail. Two striking
examples may be cited.
Eighteen houses in a particular ownership were visited in which, according to the statements
as to living and sleeping arrangements made by the tenants, there were 32 overcrowded rooms. All
the houses were in a more or less dirty and dilapidated condition, and many sanitary defects existed in
them. None of these houses were on the register of houses let in lodgings, although 15 of them were
occupied by members of more than one family.
Again, particulars collected concerning 11 houses in a particular ownership, show that there
were 19 overcrowded rooms in these houses. The property was in an exceedingly dilapidated and
dirty condition. All the houses were occupied by members of more than one family, but none of them
were on the register of houses let in lodgings.
A number of houses on the opposite side of the street to the group of houses first referred
to were found, whilst exhibiting defects, to be in better condition, and to present far less overcrowding
than tbe 18 houses with 32 overcrowded rooms, yet save for the fact of difference of ownership there
was no obvious reason why one side of the street should be better than the other. Again, the 11 houses
with 19 overcrowded rooms presented an amount of overcrowding and were dirty and dilapidated to
an extent exceptional as compared with other houses in their neighbourhood.
In most instances, where the existence of similar groups was ascertained, I have only noted
the facts with regard to a few houses in the group; these, however, may be regarded as typical of the
group generally.
*It should be noted that in the provision of the by-laws relating to houses let in lodgings, made by the St. Pancras Vestry, which
deals with cubic space requirements, no special mention is made of children, and as is desirable the full amount of cubic space is
thus required for them. With a view, however, to enabling comparison to be made between St. Pancras and other districts, the definition
of overcrowding given above has been taken as a working basis. It is the one actually adopted in the majority of London districts, and
iu most of those other districts in which it is not precisely followed the differences are not of such a character as to greatly affect the
results.