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
London County Council 1901
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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conditions found to exist in each case. . . . Every tenant was supplied with a card giving
an abstract of the by-laws, the dimensions of the rooms occupied, and the number of persons
allowed to occupy them. The result of being under definite regulations as to cleansing and
overcrowding, together with frequent inspection, has undoubtedly led to these houses being kept
clean and free from overcrowding to a far greater extent than was possible without the by-laws."
Proceedings were instituted in respect of four houses, and fines inflicted of from 5s. to 40s. in each
case.
Common Lodging Houses.
The duty of administering the Common Lodging Houses Acts devolved upon the Council
in November, 1894.
The following table shows the number of houses on the register, the authorised number of lodgers, the number of convictions, penalties, and notices in each year since 1894—
| Year. | No. of houses on register. | Autho-rised number of lodgers. | No. of day visits by inspectors. | No. of night visits. | No. of prosecutions. | No. of convictions. | Penalties. | No. of notices. | No. of deaths. | Cases of infectious disease. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| s. | d. | |||||||||||
| 1895 | 626 | 29,574 | — | — | 16 | 12 | 37 | 6 | — | — | 51 | 99 |
| 1896 | 596 | 29,140 | 28,331 | — | 31 | 30 | 112 | 16 | — | 334 | 65 | 71 |
| 1897 | 581 | 28,718 | 26,121 | — | 31 | 30 | 92 | 11 | — | 261 | 59 | 48 |
| 1898 | 560 | 28,332 | 27,658 | — | 29 | 29 | 167 | 3 | — | 264 | S7 | 44 |
| 1899 | 544 | 28,448 | 28,229 | 1,162 | 25 | 22 | 183 | 9 | — | 238 | 96 | 54 |
| 1900 | 528 | 28,311 | 28,428 | 668 | 16 | 13 | 102 | 15 | — | 240 | 91 | 40 |
| 1901 | 514 | *28,037½ | 35,225 | 2,133 | 16 | 15 | 96 | 3 | — | 241 | 102 | 166 |
In the year 1901, proceedings before the magistrate were instituted in 16 cases, resulting
in 15 convictions, fines being inflicted amounting to £86 and £10 3s. costs. The remaining
summons was dismissed.
The number of cases of infectious disease reported in common lodging-houses was as
follows—Smallpox, 135; erysipelas, 17; diphtheria, 6; enteric fever, 5; scarlet fever, 2; measles, 1;
Total, 166.
In addition to the number of inspections mentioned in the table, there were 4,241 day
visits and 55 night visits to unregistered houses, including 3,185 visits to seamen's lodginghouses.
The number of new houses placed on the register in 1901 was 9.
The following table shows the number of common lodging-houses, the authorised number
of lodgers in such houses at the end of 1901, and the number of houses registered in each
district during the year.
| Sanitary district. | Total number of houses. | Authorised number of lodgers. | Number of houses registered during the year 1901. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Battersea | 7 | 255 | 1 |
| Bermondsey | 5 | 789 | — |
| Bethnal-green | 16 | 506 | 1 |
| Camberwell | 9 | 609 | — |
| Chelsea | 10 | 522 | —__ |
| Deptford | 10 | 552 | — |
| Finsbury | 9 | 546 | — |
| Fulham | 1 | 51 | — |
| Greenwich | 6 | 202 | — |
| Hackney | 9 | 431 | — |
| Hammersmith | 9 | 550 | — |
| Hampstead | 1 | 35 | — |
| Holborn | 43 | 2,408 | 1 |
| Islington | 44 | 1,360 | 1 |
| Kensington | 33 | 1,019 | — |
| Lambeth | 10 | 696 | 1 |
| Lewisham | 1 | 30 | — |
| Marylebone | 19 | 904 | — |
| Paddington | 9 | 304 | — |
| Poplar | 13 | 948 | — |
| St. Pancras | 16 | 1,020 | 1 |
| Shoreditch | 14 | 779 | — |
| Southwark | 54 | 3,588 | — |
| Stepney | 92 | 6,744 | 3 |
| Stoke Newington | 1 | 37 | — |
| Wandsworth | 10 | 231 | — |
| Westminster | 29 | 2,096 | — |
| Woolwich | 34 | 825½* | — |
| Total | 514 | 28,0371½* | 9 |
* ½ = 1 child.