London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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London County Council 1900

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]

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63
to-house inquiries in tenemented streets were made as to the number of dwellings, &c., in each
house, and 41 houses were measured and entered for registration."
Islington—During the year 41 additional houses were registered, making 459 on the
register. One inspector is wholly employed in connection with their inspection, and another
employed partly upon this work and partly in taking samples under the 1 ood Adulteration Acts.
The principal adopted in placing houses on the register has been to select houses whose owners
neglected their sanitary state to the detriment of the tenants, or those in which the tenants were
dirty in their habits, and, therefore, required supervision. " In this way neglected properties and
uncleanly tenants have come under sanitary control, which has proved much to their advantage.
Stoke Newington—At the end of the year 135 houses were on the register.
St. Martin-in-tlie-Fields—The inspector appointed to inspect houses let in lodgings has
regularly carried out this duty.
Strand—113 premises have been inspected under the by-laws. In addition to numerous
cases in which dirty conditions were found, overcrowding was found in eleven instances.
St. Giles-in-the-Fields—The number of houses on the register is 012.
Holborn—The number of houses on the register is 84.
Clerkenwell—At the end of the year 176 houses were on the register. Dr Newman writes—
"Steady but continued progress should be made with the work of placing suitable houses on this
register, as it is one of the1 most satisfactory and reliable ways of maintaining a good standard of
sanitation in such houses, and of preventing overcrowding."
St. Luke—By-laws have been in operation since 1896, but only a few were registered until
1898 on account of the rent limit, which was then altered. The number on the register in 1900
was 175.
City—The number of houses on the register is 396, containing 3,051 lodgers in 1,274 tenements,
or 2.39 persons per tenement. In the enforcement of the by-laws 481 notices were served.
Slioreditch—The number of houses registered during the year was 31, and the number on
the register was 156.
Bethnal-green—The medical officer of health states that his authority has decided to enforce
the by-laws.
St. George-in-the-East—The number of houses on the register was 83. No houses were
newly registered during the year, and the medical officer of health writes—"It is satisfactory to
be able to report a marked improvement in their general sanitary condition in comparison with
what obtained before registration."The number registered "includes, as far as is known, all
the tenement houses in the parish that can be registered by reason of the retats."
Poplar—The County Council having, in 1898, called attention to the rent limit in the
by-laws exempting houses from registration being so low as to militate against their usefulness,
inquiry was made in a number of streets as to the effect of this by-law. The medical
officer of health reported—"It will be seen from the tabulated statement that 4s. 6d. and 5s., also
5s. 6d. are the rents or charges for the most part payable for portions of houses, and only in a few
instances would any of the premises dealt with come under the Board's by-laws with respetet to
houses let in lodgings, by lodgers having to pay a rent or charge less than 3s. per week." The
rents specified in the by-laws, viz., 3s. and 4s., were* therefore raised to 10s. and 12s. 6d., and the
by-law thus altered confirmed by the Local Government Board.
St. George-the-Martyr—The number of houses on the register was 309.
Newington—The number of houses on the register was 27. "Various lists of houses
deemed suitable to be placed on the register, chiefly on account of the difficulty of keeping them in
a fair state of repair, have been rejected from time to time."
St. Olave—There were 19 houses on the register. In five instances summonses were taken
out for infringement of the by-laws and penalties inflicted.
1{ other hi the—The number of houses registered during the year was five.
Lambeth—The number of houses registered during the year was 26, and there were 411
houses oil the register. The medical officer of health states that in some cases the landlord who
lives on the premises has no money to expend on annual cleaning, and that it is desirable that
this duty should devolve on the owner.
liattersea—There were 49 houses on the register, and these werg regularly inspected. If
the number of the staff were increased " the number on the register might possibly be increased."
Wandsworth (Clapham)—The registered houses were inspected twice a year, and five
notices served. (Putney)—Certain houses were put on the register. " The landlord, however, made
such structural alterations in the houses in question, that each flat became a separate tenement,
with a separate door, so that they could no longer re'main under the by-laws." (Wandsworth)—
There were 36 liouses on tlie register, being an increase of 14 npon tlie number in tlie preceding
year.
Camberwell—The by-laws were under consideration, especially with respect to the definition
of the word "landlord," the medical officer of health being of opinion that the sanitary authority
" should be able fo look to some person of a more responsible holding than that of a weekly
tenancy of the whole house" to carry out the work of annual cleansing.
Woolwich Ihe number of houses on the register was 66. These were systematically
inspected.
I I umstead There were 22 houses 011 the register, 4 having been registered during the year.
Common Lodging-houses.
The year 1900 was the seventh year during which common lodging-houses in the County of
London have been subject to regulation by the Council. The number of houses on the register