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URBAN DISTRICT OF ERITH.
Annual Report
OF THE
Medical Officer of Health,
For the Year 1908.
Erith,
March Ist, 1909.
TO THE URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL OF ERITH.
Gentlemen,—
I have the honour to submit my Annual Report for the year 1908, in
accordance with the Regulations of the Local Government Board.
Physical Features and Population.
The Urban District of Erith is situated on the south side of the River
Thames, immediately outside the County of London, which forms the western
boundary. It is bounded on the south and east by the districts of Bexley and
Crayford respectively. The portion of the district lying between the River Thames
and the South Eastern and Chatham Railway line, 1,689 acres in extent, is marsh
land and its level is below that of high water. The remaining portion, 2,170 acres
in extent, rises gradually from the level of the marsh land to a considerable height.
The District contains a number of factories for various purposes, e.g., gun
making, cable making, mining machinery, &c., and the large majority of the
inhabitants are connected with these factories. There is also a certain number
employed in agricultural and horticultural pursuits.
The population at the Census of 1901 numbered 25,296, inhabiting 4,291
houses. Since the Census, 1,392 new houses have been built, 22 of them during
1908, making a total of 5,683. Most of these are six or eight roomed cottages, built
to meet the demand for this class of property by the workmen who have come into
the district to the factories, and in accordance with the Byelaws in force in
the district.
In my last report I estimated the population at 28,481; during 1908 the work
at some of the largest factories was very slack, and there was no increase of
population by immigration. At the middle of 1908 there were about 700 houses
empty in the district, but in many cases two families occupied one house, where,
previously, when work was good they occupied separate houses. The natural
increase of population, that is, the excess of births over deaths, was 505 and adding
this number to the estimate for 1907, I estimate the population at the middle of 1908
to have been 28,986, which figures I have adopted for statistical purposes.