Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Bethnal Green, Parish of St. Matthew ]
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Distribution of Buildings and Open Spaces.
Although some parts of the Parish are too thickly peopled,
the area of the open spaces is large, and the density is less
than in many other districts. The following is the density
of each sub-division:—
TABLE VIII.
SUB-DISTRICTS. | Persons to an Acre |
---|---|
Hackney Road | 170 |
Green | 60 |
Church | 165 |
Town | 218 |
As population has increased, new streets have been built,
and more sewers made: hence were it possible to disperse
certain numbers among the new dwellings, our health might
improve, or not retrograde. But poverty, which compels
herding together, is the poison that prevents such circulation.
Our crowded streets and courts are therefore becoming more
over thronged. So mortality mounts up, and physical
degeneration results. Accordingly, we find that after 1841,
when the mortality was one to every 41 living, or 24 in 1000,
it rose in the decennium 1841-50 to 1 in 38, or 26 in 1000.*
To me it appears that the antidote is—to raze to the ground
certain unhealthy buildings, and to erect small Model
Dwellings instead.
On the differences between Whitechapel, Shoreditch, and
Bethnal Green, Dr. Parr remarks, "they are inhabited by
very much the same class of people, the sewerage and supply
of water are nearly the same, but the density is different, and
the mortality is highest in the densest districts." Those
differences I append from the Registrar-General's 16th.
Report.
* Since 1861 several of the worst streets have been furnished with sewers,
and their sickness and mortality have very much decreased.