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6
REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
sidering the number of individuals who have been compelled to evacuate the
houses pulled down in the site and neighbourhood of Victoria-street.
As the number of persons occupying an acre exerts considerable influence
upon their mortality and social habits, it may be interesting to examine the
following table, showing the number of persons living in the various districts
of the Metropolis on an acre in 1851. Probably the proportion in the
several districts has not materially altered, although the absolute numbers
have so.
POPULATION PER ACRE.
Lewisham 2
Wandsworth 4
Hampstead 5
Camberwell 12
Hackney 14
Kensington 16
Poplar 16
Greenwich 18
Rotherhithe 20
Islington 30
Lambeth 31
Pancras 61
Chelsea 63
St. George's, Hanover-square .. 63
Bermondsey 69
Westminster 71
St. Martin's in the Fields 80
Stepney 88
Newington 103
Marylebone 101
St. Olave 114
Bethnal Green 118
London, City 128
St. Saviour 142
Shoreditch 169
Clerkenwell 170
St George's, South wark 183
Whitechapel 196
St. George's in the East 199
West London 212
St. Giles 221
St. James's, Westminster 221
Holborn 237
St. Luke's 245
Strand 255
East London 290
HOUSES.
The number of houses in 1851 was 7549, corresponding to eight persons to
each house. To have preserved this relation in regard to the increase of population,
647 new houses should have been built in the district by the end of 1856.
There can be no question, however, that very few houses have been built in the
district, but many have been pulled down: hence the inhabitants must live in a
more crowded state than in 1851. Many of the houses are in a most unsatisfactory
condition, especially those in the courts, being unprovided with back
windows or back yards, and being walled in by higher houses, so as to be almost
entirely excluded from ventilation, which is still further prevented by the courts
being closed by a wall at the end. Many of the houses are also extremely
dirty, the walls of the rooms being covered with the stains of destroyed
vermin; the drainage is either none or very imperfect; frequently there are
no privies, and when these exist, the soil is retained in foul cesspools, evolving
the most offensive odours; and sometimes there is but one privy for 50 or
100 persons. In some of the houses a donkey is kept in a lower room,
whilst a family occupies the room above.
Were I required to give a rough estimate, I should say that not more
than one-third of the houses are in a satisfactory state in regard to the above
particulars.
Many of the houses are quite unfit for habitation, even were they cleaned
and many of the above deficiencies supplied, being too small and confined.
It seems as if there were some difficulty in general in providing proper
dwelling-houses for the poorest classes. The model lodging-houses and
model buildings are beyond the reach of the very poor. What we require is