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5
Annual Report for 1920.
A.—Natural and Social Conditions of the
District.
At the Census of 1911 the population was 27,750,
viz.:—14,143 males and 13,607 females. The number of
inhabited buildings was 5,129, and the number of separate
occupiers 5,897. The average number of persons
per inhabited building was 5.41 as compared with 4.85
for all Urban Districts (excluding London and the
County Boroughs), and 5.05 for the whole of England
and Wales.
During the years of the War, the district was a
munition area, and the population was largely increased
by the influx of men and women, working at the various
factories. Several large houses and institutions were
taken over as Hostels for work people, and in addition 4
large Hostels were formed by the erection of temporary
buildings and huts. The population was estimated, by
the Registrar-General in 1915, to be 35,232, but this has
diminished, and is now estimated to be 31,741 at the
middle of 1920.
The District is now almost entirely industrial, and
is situated south of the River Thames, adjoining the
County of London on the west, the urban districts of
Crayford on the east, and Bexley on the south.
The majority of the population is employed in one
or other of the factories, the principal ones being engaged
in cable making, gun making, oil refining, manufacture
of mining and electrical machinery, and of
asbestos and cement slabs.
The area of the district is about 3,859 acres, the
northern portion of which (1,689 acres) lies along the
River Thames; the southern portion rises to about 200
feet above sea level.