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
Acton 1928
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Acton]
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1928
12
erected by a few private firms for their own employees, the houses
which have been erected since the war are only for sale. Subletting
of houses has consequently become usual, as sub-letting
naturally tends to lessen the burden of the rent. This economic
factor is probably the cause of overcrowding, and the opportunities
for sub-letting are numerous, and within easy reach.
If this standard were accepted, the amount of overcrowding in the Borough in 1921 could easily be gauged from the following table which is extracted from the Census report
| Number of persons in family. | Number of Private Families occupying the following number of rooms. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 & 7 | 8 & 9 | 10 & over | |
| 1. | 406 | 146 | 133 | 66 | 31 | 57 | 17 | — |
| 2. | 286 | 461 | 732 | 447 | 251 | 385 | 125 | 27 |
| 3. | 160 | 410 | 900 | 612 | 355 | 589 | 219 | 50 |
| 4. | 65 | 188 | 737 | 576 | 405 | 588 | 271 | 57 |
| 5. | 12 | 91 | 563 | 386 | 305 | 462 | 160 | 41 |
| 6. | 5 | 44 | 353 | 268 | 214 | 301 | 130 | 39 |
| 7. | 1 | 25 | 213 | 171 | 134 | 176 | 74 | 17 |
| 8. | 1 | 11 | 112 | 100 | 82 | 130 | 45 | 18 |
| 9. | 1 | 5 | 48 | 52 | 48 | 69 | 18 | 13 |
| 10. | — | 1 | 25 | 29 | 33 | 38 | 10 | 10 |
| 11. | — | 1 | 7 | 18 | 15 | 16 | 5 | 2 |
| 12. | — | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | – | 5 |
| 13. | — | — | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | – | – |
| 14. | — | — | — | — | 1 | 2 | – | – |
| 15 &over | — | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
From this table it will be seen that on that basis, 255 out
of a total of 916 1-roomed tenements were overcrowded; 178
out of 1,383 2-roomed tenements were overcrowded; 409 out of