London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Walthamstow 1903

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Walthamstow]

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5
SANITARY AREA.
POSITION AND LOCALITY.
Walthamstow is divided into five wards for administrative purposes,
and has been described as a town which " stands upon a hill of gravel,
which rises gently from the marsh level of the Valley of the Lea to a
height of 133 feet above ordnance datum." It lies between the River
and Epping Forest from the west to east, extending from Leyton on
its south to Chingford on the north, The sub-soil is mainly gravel, the
London clay showing itself in various parts on the surface, notably at
Church Hill and portions of the Hoe Street and Northern Wards
adjoining. St. James Street Ward is the lowest portion of the district
and the Northern (semi-rural in character) is the highest. High Street
and portions of Wood Street (lying between the Old Church and Prospect
Hill on the west and the Forest on the east) come next in point of
elevation to St. James Street, while Hoe Street is intermediate between
these and the Northern Wards.
St. James Street Ward contains the largest population, 23,600, with
a density of 94 4 persons per acre; the Northern Ward contains 23,500,
with a density of 10 per acre ; Hoe Street, 22,500, with 64'6 per acre;
High Street, 20,000, with 006 per acre; and Wood Street, 16,500,
with 33 persons per acre.
The whole district has a duplicate system of sewers, and practically
every house water-closet accommodation, and water supplied by the
East London Water Company.
The St. James Street Ward varies from 18 to 54 feet above ordnance
datum ; High Street, 21 to 60 feet; Hoe Street, 50 to 140 feet; Wood
Street, 50 to 170 feet; and the Northern Ward, 25 to 220 feet.
The Sewage Farm, about 240 acres in extent, is situated in the
St. James Street Ward, and the reservoirs of the East London Water
Company, about 330 acres in extent, are in the High Street Ward.
POPULATION.
In 1901, at the last Census, the enumerated population was 95,131;
in 1891 it was 46,346 ; and 10 years previously it was 21,697. The
Registrar-General estimates the population for mid year, 1903, as
106,290.
A correct estimate of the population is very essential for making out
the different birth and death rates, and short of enumeration the
ordinary methods of calculating must allow for one to two per cent, error.
In 1901 the population was thus distributed, as given by the RegistrarGeneral
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