View report page

4
The successful working of a well organized sanitary administration has been amply
established by the experience of Liverpool and the City of London. There is no reason
to doubt that a similar administration will not effect the like good results elsewhere.
I have now to consider what means are in my possession, and what measures ought to
be pursued in order to aid me in the efficient discharge of my responsible duties.
The first point is to investigate and determine the conditions under which the vast
population dwelling within the boundaries of Shoreditch is living. It must be my first
duty to make an elaborate and minute medical survey of the parish; many most important
features of this survey will necessarily demand much organized labour, and a continuous
observation extended over a considerable period of time. But there are some features, and
those of fundamental importance, which, by diligent search into the mortality records and
statistical calculation, may be at once brought into evidence. The other features that
require a lengthened observation will be gradually developed and worked out, so as to
complete the whole scheme which I have set before me of a complete Medical Sanitary
Survey.
Gentlemen, I invite your present attention to the following points illustrative of the
sanitary condition of Shoreditch. With many of the facts, your general knowledge of the
locality will have made you acquainted. The conclusions are either the obvious deductions
• •
of reason, or are warranted by the laws of medical science.
The area of Shoreditch comprises 646 statute acres, or about one square mile.
From an interesting map of a survey of the parish, made in 1745, which a member of
the Vestry (Mr. Green) has afforded me the opportunity of consulting, I find that there
were then 2302 inhabited houses in the parish, and that of these, 1397, or considerably
more than one-half, stood in the Liberties of Holywell and Moorfields. Now, if we allow
seven and a half inhabitants to each house, which is the present London rate, we shall find
that the entire population in 1745 was only 17,255; and it is probable that even this
estimate is excessive. Let us see to what numbers we have now attained. By the census
of 1831, the population was 68,564; in 1841, it had risen to 83,432; and in 1851, to
109,257. During the decenniad from 1841 to 1851, the gross population of London
increased at the rate of something less than two per cent. annually. But I find, upon
calculation, that the Shoreditch annual rate of increase during the same period, has been
2.79 per cent. In estimating the population of 1856, we must therefore multiply in the
latter proportion; this will give an aggregate population of 125,000 persons in round
numbers; 125,000 persons are therefore crowded and compressed within the 646 acres
comprised within the boundary of 1745.
But I think it useful to pursue the analysis of the population statistics into further
detail, in order to show by what process the present enormous population has been attained,
and to throw light upon some of the conditions affecting its health. It will be necessary