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 1907
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Shoreditch]
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42
Scrutton Street, Nos. 23 and 25. Seven-roomed houses with sculleries; they were
closed for demolition.
These houses were occupied as dwellings by persons of the working class, between
120 and 130 persons residing in them. Their sites are being, or are going to be,
used for business premises.
ARTIZANS' DWELLINGS.
These comprise some 46 separate blocks, including an additional block in
connection with Broad Street Dwellings. Particulars in respect to them are contained
in my reports for 1905 and 1906. They were under observation during the year,
and their sanitary condition may be described generally as satisfactory. As in
previous years, for the purposes of comparison they have been divided into two
classes, A including those occupied by persons who on the whole are in comfortable
or fairly comfortable circumstances, and B including those occupied by people in
very poor circumstances. Class B includes the same dwellings as in previous years.
The number of tenements, rooms, and persons in the dwellings estimated for the year 1907 are contained in the subjoined table:—
| N umber of blocks. | Number of tenements. | Number of rooms. | Number of persons. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class A | 31 | 1514 | 3912 | 6010 |
| Class B | 15 | 383 | 917 | 1780 |
| Total for the whole | 46 | 1897 | 4829 | 7790 |
The conditions associated with residence in the class A are, from a sanitary point
of view, superior to those in the class B dwellings.
The births registered during the year, and the birth-rates in the dwellings as a whole, and the two classes into which they have been divided are shown below:—
| The whole of the Dwellings. | Class A. | Cass B. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number. | Rate per 1,000 Inhabitants. | Number. | Rate per 1.000 Inhabitants. | Number. | Rate per 1,000 Inhabitants. |
| 249 | 31.9 | 191 | 31.7 | 58 | 32.6 |
The number of births was the same as in 1906.
The proportion of deaths attributed to prematurity remained the same as for
1906, namely, 12 per 1,000 births, as compared with 27.5 in 1905. In class A the
deaths from prematurity amounted to 15.7 per 1,000 births, whilst in class B they
were nil. For the whole Borough the deaths from prematurity amounted to 16.1
per 1,000 births.