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
Shoreditch 1905
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Shoreditch]
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44
Council's Dwellings.
Derby Houses.
Enfield Buildings.
George's Square.
Gladstone Buildings.
Goldsmith Buildings.
Granville Bulildings.
Great Eastern Buildings.
Hamilton Buildings.
Rodney Buildings.
Singer Street Chambers.
St. Agatha Square.
Stanley Houses.
Victoria Chambers.
Vinegar Ground Models (4 blocks).
Willow Chambers.
Eleanor House.
As the result of inspection for the purpose of comparison, the dwellings
have been divided into two classes, which may be designated as A and
B. Class A includes all those which from the general aspect of the dwellings and
the appearance of the dwellers, are occupied by persons of the working class in comfortable
or fairly comfortable circumstances. In class, B the people are not in comfortable
circumstances, and a large proportion of them are extremely poor.
With a few exceptions the dwellings are structurally satisfactory, and
save in one instance their sanitary condition was generally satisfactory also.
In a number of them the standard of sanitation is high, and leaves l5ttle to be
desired. With regard to the rest, although sanitary defects of minor importance were
observed, so far as light, ventilation, water supply, sanitary accommodation, drainage,
paving of open spaces in connection with the dwelling's, provision for the washing of
clothes and disposal of house refuse are concerned, they cannot be classed otherwise
than satisfactory. The great drawback from a health point of view with respect to
artizans' dwellings, 'is the aggregation of population on the areas covered by the
buildings. Ini some cases the density of the population per acre is very great.
The numbers of tenements, rooms, and persons in the dwellings estimated from the results of enquiries made during the latter part of 1904 and the early part of 1905 are set out below:—
| Number of blocks. | Number of tenements. | Number of rooms. | Number of persons. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class A | 29 | 1483 | 3827 | 5920 |
| Class B | 15 | 383 | 917 | 1849 |
| Totals for the whole | 44 | 1866 | 4744 | 7769 |
The blocks of dwellings in class B are as a rule of smaller size than' those in
class A. The average number of persons per tenement for the whole of the dwellings
is 4.1, being at the rate of 1.6 persons per room. In class A the averages were 3.9
persons per tenement, and 1.5 per room, in class B 4.8 and 2.0 respectively. For
the whole of the dwellings the number of rooms per tenement averages 2.54, being
2.58 for class A, and 2.39 for class B.