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 1906
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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from inhabited house duty are inspected. In many instances alterations are required to be made
and work to be done before the certificate is granted, while in some cases the certificate is refused.
The following table, showing the number of applications for certificates and other particulars, is compiled from information contained in the reports of medical officers of health :—
| Sanitary area. | No. of houses for which applications for certificates wcro received during the year. | No. of tenements comprised therein. | No. of tenements for which certificates were | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Granted. | Refused. | Deferred. | |||
| Paddington | 18 | 148 | 90 | 20 | 38 |
| Kensington | 52 | 98 | 73 | 14 | — |
| Hammersmith | 80 | 231 | 136 | 9 | 86 |
| Fulham | 46 | 147 | 79 | 46 | 22 |
| Chelsea | 9 | 144 | 129 | 15 | 18 |
| Westminster, City of | 14 | 144 | 79 | 3 | 62 |
| St. Marylebone | 5 | 7 | 3 | 4 | — |
| Hampstead | 17 | 92 | 71 | — | 34 |
| Islington | 23 | 381 | 377 | 4 | — |
| Stoke Newington | 8 | 82 | 82 | — | — |
| Hackney | 52 | 864 | 864 | ||
| Holborn | 10 | 48 | — | 5 | 5 |
| Finsbury | 72 | 708 | 700 | — | 8 |
| Bethnal Green | 3 | 50 | 20 | 30 | — |
| Stepney | 8 | 64 | 60 | 4 | — |
| Poplar | 2 | 4 | — | 4 | — |
| Southwark | 372 | 429 | 429 | — | — |
| Bermondsey | 2 | 8 | 8 | — | |
| Lambeth | 69 | 279 | 155 | 124 | — |
| Battersea | 8 | 14 | 11 | 3 | — |
| Wandsworth | 169 | 264 | 246 | 18 | — |
| Camberwell | 34 | 140 | 59 | 6 | 75 |
| Deptford | 6 | 12 | 6 | ||
| Greenwich | 6 | 28 | — | 28 | — |
| Lewisham | 169 | 378 | 366 | 12 | |
Underground Rooms.
In some of the annual reports information is given as to the number of underground
rooms which are illegally occupied. From this information the following table has been compiled.
Concerning the underground rooms in St. Pancras the medical officer of health writes : " At the end of
the year there were on the register 538 underground rooms which had been illegally occupied as
dwellings . . . Time is allowed to the occupants of these rooms to find rooms elsewhere, and
during the time allowed the illegally occupied rooms are kept under observation, and the number
vacated or otherwise occupied ascertained and reported. The houses in which these dwellings are
found are added to the register of registered tenement houses."
Sanitary area.
No. of
underground
rooms
illegally
occupied.
No. of
rooms
closed.
Sanitary area.
No. of
underground
rooms
illegally
occupied.
No. of
rooms
closed.
Paddington 3 3 Finsbury 14 —
Kensington 28 28 Shoreditch 4
Chelsea 1 1 Bethnal Green 7 7
Westminster 29 29 Stepney 66 66
St. Marylebone 2 Lambeth 12 12
Hampstead 5 3 Battersea 11 11
Islington 37— Camberwell 1 —
Stoke Newington 1 — Greenwich 2 2
Hackney 2 2 Woolwich 2 2
Holbom2525
Overcrowding.
While it is probable that the increase of facilities for cheap travelling is affecting the demand for
house accommodation in London, there is no evidence, so far as the annual reports show, of any marked
improvement in or reduction of the overcrowding of dwelling-rooms. Particulars of the actual circumstances
of twenty-six families in Bermondsey who Were found to be occupying overcrowded rooms are