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
City of London 1913
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London, City of ]
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13
Number of Persons per Tenement.
The following Table shows the position of the City in respect of the distribution
of the resident population living in tenements of less than ten rooms.
It will be seen that of the City population, 22.6 per cent. (column "b") are
housed in such a manner that they average less than one person to a room; 60.8 per
cent. (column "c") are accommodated in the proportion of one to two persons per
room; 12.4 per cent. (column "J") live under conditions which only allow of more
than two persons per room; and the balance of 4.2 per cent. (column "e") live in
houses with more than 10 rooms.
Compared with London as a whole it will be observed that there are rather more
persons in the City living under conditions in which the average is less than two
persons per room, and fewer in which the average exceeds two persons.
It should be remarked that the calculations are based on the actual number of
persons, which includes both adults and children, but as two children under 10 years
of age may be very properly counted as one adult, it follows that if children were so
regarded, the percentage of more than two persons to a room would be reduced.
TABLE 2.
| PLace. | Percentage of Population.In tenements of less than 10 rooms. | In tenements of 10 or more rooms. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 1 person per room. | From 1 to 2 persons per room inclusive. | More than 2 persons per room. | ||
| (a) | (b) | (c) | ||
| The whole of London (County) | 20.6 | 55.4 | 17.7 | 6.3 |
| City of London | 22.6 | 60.8 | 12.4 | 4.2 |
Size of Tenements.
When considering whether the conditions of domestic life be healthy or require
amelioration, other aspects in addition to the foregoing should be examined.
Table 3 shows the proportion per 1,000 tenements, of tenements of various
size. Thus, in the last line of the table it will be seen that the greatest number of
tenements in the City are those of two rooms (column c.), viz., in the proportion of
260 to the 1,000; the next numerous being three-roomed tenements, 231 per 1,000.
Of four-roomed tenements the proportion is 163 per 1,000, and that of one-room
tenements only 130 per 1,000; the remaining 216 per 1,000 (the sum of columns
†. to l.) being tenements of 5 rooms and upwards.