Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Brentford and Chiswick]
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have not the use of a fixed bath is less, i.e. 6,126 in 1951 and 4,087 in 1961,
this still means, in terms of persons without the use of a fixed bath, that over
10.000, nearly one-fifth of the Borough population, are so situated, Another
undesirable feature is that 118 households are recorded as havingno water closet
within the dwelling of the family, but since April, 1961, the time of Census
taking, 38 dwellings of this nature, containing 41 households have been demolished
and the families rehoused In addition 10 houseboats have been included amongst
the Brentford and Chiswick dwellings, and most often these do not possess an
indoor water closet. Forty-eight houseboats are known to the staff of the Public
Health Department, so which ten have been included in the Census figures is not
known.
The Census report also shows that in 1961 there were 80 persons over the
age of 90 years living in Brentford and Chiswick In the 1951 Census there
were 56 aged more than 90 years Old Age Pensioners(i.e males over65, females
over 60 years of age) numbered 8 945 (2,521 male, 6,424 female) compared with
8,755 (2.588 male, 6,167 female) in 1951, 1.737 of these lived alone and 5,448
either alone or with one other of pensionable age. The increase in ten years
has been very small indeed compared with the National Increase and the figures
are of great interest because of the potential requirements for Welfare Services
The number of persons enumerated who were not born in the United Kingdom
was 4,374 including 970 born in Asiatic countries, 1,958 from Europe and 499
from Caribbean countries
The percentage of persons living at a density of more than 1½ persons per
room had dropped from 9 .0 in 1951 to 6. 9 in 1961
The residents of the Borough are of mixed categories including professional
and clerical people of all grades, artisans, factory workers etc.., and the types
of dwellings vary from flatted houses and cottages to large detached residences
in their own surrounding grounds The amount of slum property is not considerable
and progress continues to be made with the demolition of houses which are
no longer fit for human habitation. Information on the rehousing of the tenants
in council houses and details concerning assessment of slum dwellings, demolition
and the building of new houses are supplied later in this Report.
Overcrowding of dwelling houses still remains a problem in the Borough but
the number of cases of statutory overcrowding known to the Public Health Department
at the end of the year decreased slightly for the second successive year.
More new cases were found during the year, i.e., 20 in 1962 compared with 11 in
1961
The unemployment figures for adult persons i.e. aged 18 and over, in the
Borough at the end of 1962 reflect a further decrease in the number of jobs
available due to various firms moving out of the Borough to larger premises.
At the end of the year there were 329 unemployed altogether, of which 271 were
men and 58 women This compares with 200 men and 66 women unemployed at the
end of 1961, and 147 men and 34 women unemployed at the end of 1960.
On 5th December, 1962, the number of jobs vacant totalled 248, (331 at the
same date in 1961 and 423 in 1960) of which 123 were for men and 125 for women.
For the first time in some years, therefore, the number of jobs available fell
below the number of persons seeking employment
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