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AREA AND POPULATION.
The District has an area of 11,142 acres, these being distributed
among the wards as follows:—
Coulsdon East 2,812
Coulsdon West 1,253
Kenley 1,292
Purley 685
Sanderstead 2,311
Selsdon and Farleigh 1,924
Woodcote 865
This is 2,507 acres more than in 1915, owing to revisions of the
boundaries, the last of which was in 1933.
When the Urban District came into existence the population was
estimated to have been 17,920 and this had increased to 21,493 by the
time of the Census in 1921 and to 37,666 by the 1931 Census.
As the war commenced the population had reached its peak of
approximately 60,000, but after an initial reduction by one-third, owing
to voluntary evacuation, gradually recovered, only to be followed by a
drop in 1941 to 46,820. Similarly, after a gradual and fairly steady
recovery until 1944, when the estimated population was 50,240,
voluntary and official evacuation probably reduced this figure to its
lowest war-time level. By mid-1945, however, the Registrar-General
considered recovery had taken place to the extent of 53,460.
The number of persons resident in the Institutions in the District
at the end of 1945 was as follows:—
Cane Hill Hospital 2,422
Netherne Hospital 2,213
Russell Hill School 172
Reedham Orphanage 241
This represents an increase in proportion to the general population,
owing to the crowding which has had to be permitted in the hospitals
through shortage of accommodation elsewhere.
In 1915 there were 4,141 occupied houses, chiefly in Purley and
Woodcote, whereas in 1945 there were 16,427 occupied houses distributed
as follows:—
Coulsdon East 2,768
Coulsdon West 2,270
Purley 2,544
Woodcote 1,544
Sanderstead 4,100
Selsdon & Farleigh 1,749
Kenley 1,128
Hooley 324
This suggests an average of 3.2 persons per occupied house in 1945,
compared with 3.5 in 1938 and 4.3 in 1915, but in actual fact comparison
cannot be fairly made as so many of the "occupied" houses were used
for purposes other than housing the civil population in 1945.
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