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
Hackney 1935
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hackney]
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Table II.
| Floor Area of Room. | Permitted number of Persons. |
|---|---|
| 110 sq. ft. or more | 2 |
| 90 sq. ft. or more, but less than 110 sq. ft. | 1½ |
| 70 sq. ft. or more, but less than 90 sq. ft. | 1 |
| 50 sq. ft. or more, but less than 70 sq. ft. | ½ |
| Under 50 sq. ft. | Nil |
Table I.
| Number of Rooms. | Permitted number of Persons. |
|---|---|
| 1 room | 2 |
| 2 rooms | 3 |
| 3 „ | 5 |
| 4 „ | 7½ |
| 5 ,, | 10 |
| with an additional two persons in respect of each room in excess of five | |
In computing the number of rooms under Table I, no account
is taken of a room having a floor area of less than 50 square feet, and
in calculating the permitted number of persons a child under one
year of age is not counted and a child between the ages of 1 year
and 10 years is counted as one-half of a unit.
The survey has been carried out in two operations, as follows:—
(1) Enumeration.—A call by an enumerator at every house or
separate structural dwelling in the Borough to obtain information
with regard to—
(a) the number of families or separate occupiers;
(b) the number of adults and children in each family and
particulars of the number of rooms occupied.
The results of the enumeration were as follows:—
Dwelling-houses or separate structural dwellings 36,035
Less number of houses found to be empty 152
Actual number of occupied dwellings visited 35,883
Number of families in those dwellings 61,615
Number of families found to be definitely overcrowded
under Table I irrespective of the size
of the rooms they occupied 1,952
Percentage of definite overcrowding on preliminary
enumeration 3.6%
(2) Doubtful Cases of Overcrowding for Measurement.
Number of families where doubtful overcrowding
existed and dealt with by measurement of
rooms 7,880
This part of the survey consisted of a visit by the Survey
Assistants to measure the rooms occupied by the 7,880 families
where the enumeration showed that, although they were not
definitely overcrowded under Table I, they might be overcowded
under Table II.