Habitations

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III.— HABITATIONS.

1. Houses and Tenements.

Inhabited Houses

The number of inhabited houses enumerated in England and Wales in 1901 was 6,260,852, in addition to 448,932 returned as uninhabited, and to 61,909 recorded as "building". The inhabited houses showed an increase of 809,355, or 14.87 per cent., during the 10 years 1891-1901; the rate of increase being larger than in any previous intercensal period since 1831-1841.

Uninhabited Houses

The uninhabited houses which had been returned as 372,184 in 1891, rose to 448,932 in 1901, the increase being equal to 20.6 per cent. In the Census Returns an uninhabited house signifies a house in which no person abode on the Census Night, whereas for rating and other purposes, all houses in occupation and liable to rates are classed as inhabited. It had therefore become very desirable that houses without inmates on the Census Night should in the Census Returns be divided into Occupied, and Unoccupied; and the Census in 1901, for the first time, afforded the means for this sub-division. Of the 448,932 houses enumerated in 1901 as uninhabited, 189,137, or 42.1 per cent., were returned as "Occupied" at the time of the Census, that is, were in use for business or other purposes, but without inmates on the Census Night; the remaining 259,795, or 57.9 per cent., of the uninhabited houses being returned as "Not in Occupation",practically as "Empty" houses. In the aggregate of Urban Districts no less than 47.9 per cent. of the "Uninhabited" houses were returned as "Occupied," whereas in the Rural Districts, the proportion did not exceed 27.2 per cent. On the other hand the proportion of "Unoccupied," or really "Empty" houses, to "Uninhabited" houses was 52.1 per cent. in the Urban Districts while it was 72.8 per cent. in the Rural Districts. The increase in the number and proportion of "Uninhabited" houses at the last Census was probably due, in great measure, to an increase, in Urban Districts, of "Occupied" houses without inmates on the Census night, including "lock-up" shops; it may, however, very probably be partly due to an increase of "Unoccupied" or "Empty" houses in Rural Districts, owing to the continued migration of the population into Urban Districts. The returns at the next Census will probably afford more definite information on this point.

Houses Building

The number of houses described as "Building" at the time of the last Census was 61,909, showing an increase of 23,522, or more than 60 per cent. upon the number so returned in 1891, when the number and proportion of houses in course of erection was exceptionally small, owing, it was presumed, to the severe and prolonged frost that prevailed in the early months of that year. It would, therefore, be unwise to attach much importance to the apparently large increase of building operations at the time of the last Census. It may, however, be pointed out that, in 1901, 10.8 houses were returned as "Building" to 1,000 inhabited houses in the Urban Districts, and 7.1 per 1,000 in the Rural Districts.

Definition of a House

The first Question submitted to the Overseers and Scheduled in the first Census Act (1800) was thus worded:— "How many inhabited Houses are there in your Parish, Township or Place; and by how many Families are they occupied ?" The satisfactory definition of what constitutes a house has, however, baffled successive generations of Census authorities, and the Census returns have from time to time abundantly proved that Overseers and Enumerators have not always been one-minded in their interpretation of such definitions as have been devised for their guidance. John Rickman, under whose superintendence the "Abstracts" of the first four Censuses were prepared, and by whom the "Abstracts" were discussed, remarks with reference to this question, in his Preface to the Abstract for 1831:— "In fact no (Census) Question entirely exempt from objection has been propounded, or perhaps can be propounded, except that which requires the actual number of Males and Females;" and adds "what constitutes a distinct House is not and perhaps cannot be defined. ... but whether a College, or Inn of Court, or a Town House in Scotland, containing as many separate habitations as Stories or "Flats," is to be deemed one House or many, has always been left to the opinion of those who make the Return." These difficulties and their consequences have not altogether disappeared, although a separate house has now long since been defined for the guidance of Enumerators as "all the space within the external and party walls of a building." Notwithstanding this surviving difficulty on the part of some Enumerators in defining a separate house, more especially in the case of Flats and Blocks of Improved Industrial Dwellings in large towns, there is very little ground for doubting the approximate value for comparative purposes of the aggregate numbers of Inhabited Houses returned in England and Wales at successive Censuses.

Number of persons to a House

We have seen that the increase of inhabited Houses in the ten years 1891-1901 was equal to 14.87 per cent., while the increase of population did not exceed 12.17 per cent.; it follows that the average number of persons to an Inhabited House declined from 5.32 in 1891 to 5.20 in 1901, showing a further decline from the proportion at previous Censuses. It is obvious, however, that, as a test of the housing of the population, the average number of persons to a house is comparatively useless, unless account could be taken of the varying size and capacity of the houses. The number of persons to a house showed a decline during last Century. If the cubic capacity of houses, speaking generally, increased during that period, especially in large towns, as was probably the case, the decline in the number of persons to a house understates the improvement in the housing of the people. If, however, the average cubic capacity of houses decreased during that period, the improvement in housing indicated by the decline in the number of persons to an inhabited house is discredited, and suggests an inference of doubtful value. Unfortunately, there is no trustworthy record of the size and capacity of houses at different periods. The average number of persons to a house in 1901 was 5.4 in Urban Districts, and did not exceed 4.6 in Rural Districts. It is, moreover, evident from the accompanying Table, which shows the number of persons to a house, in 1891 and 1901, in 85 of the largest English and Welsh towns, that there was a very general decline in the average number of persons to a house during the ten years, although the numbers differ widely in different towns. For instance, the number of persons per house ranged from 4.12 in Rochdale, 4.21 in Halifax, 4.25 in Huddersfield, 4.34 in Great Yarmouth, 4.36 in Bradford, and 4.39 in Stockport, to 7.93 in London, 8.01 in Gateshead, 8.03 in Newcastle upon Type, 8.12 in South Shields, and 8.85 in Devenport. Striking as these differences are, they afford no ground for deciding whether the contrast, for instance, between 4.12 in Rochdale and 8.85 in Devenport indicates much smaller houses in Rochdale or overcrowding in Devonport.1 It may be noted that in London and its neighbouring Urban Districts of Tottenham, Walthamstow and West Ham, as well as in Southampton, Newcastle upon Type, Tynemouth, Gateshead, and Merthyr Tydfil, the average number of persons to an inhabited house showed exceptionally an increase in 1901, compared with the numbers in 1891, whereas in each of the 76 other large towns the average number of persons to an inhabited house had declined. These figures naturally suggest the inquiry whether the increase in the number of persons per house in London and the eight other Urban Districts really indicates over-crowding, the recent building of more capacious houses in those Districts, or want of uniformity in the enumeration of houses at the two Censuses. As regards London, it is a fact that the substitution of Blocks of Dwellings for small houses made considerable progress during the last intercensal period. It is beyond question that these several causes tended to increase the number of persons to a house in 1901, as compared with 1891. The Tenement statistics should and do throw some light on this question.

Urban Districts. Persons per Inhabited House.
1891. 1901.
Aston Manor 4.94 4.79
Barrow-in-Furness 6.92 6.70
Bath 5.80 5.35
Birkenhead 5.71 5.62
Birmingham 5.01 4.84
Blackburn 4.91 4.65
Bolton 4.89 4.67
Bootle 5.92 5.83
Bournemouth 7.37 6.37
Bradford 4.65 4.36
Brighton 5.93 5.70
Bristol 6.09 5.65
Burnley 4.89 4.58
Burton-on-Trent 5.17 4.92
Bury 4.79 4.57
Canterbury 4.98 4.87
Cardiff 6.30 5.87
Chester 4.96 4.82
Coventry 4.57 4.49
Croydon 5.43 5.20
Derby 4.90 4.61
Devonport 10.52 8.85
Dudley 5.02 4.86
East Ham 5.96 5.75
Exeter 5.28 5.00
Gateshead 7.94 8.01
Gloucester 5.04 4.75
Great Yarmouth 4.49 4.34
Grimsby 4.89 4.73
Halifax 4.44 4.21
Handsworth (Staffs.) 5.14 4.78
Hanley 5.33 5.08
Hastings 6.27 5.73
Hornsey 5.90 5.73
Huddersfield 4.56 4.25
Ipswich 4.66 4.59
Kings Norton and Northfield 5.37 4.98
Kingston-upon-Hull 4.71 4.60
Leeds 4.71 4.53
Leicester 4.89 4.64
Leyton 5.83 5.79
Lincoln 4.85 4.49
Liverpool 5.62 5.55
London 7.73 7.93
Manchester 5.04 4.99
Merthyr Tydfil 5.22 5.34
Middlesbrough 5.67 5.24
Newcastle-upon-Tyne 7.33 8.03
Newport (Mon.) 6.36 6.00
Northampton 5.26 4.94
Norwich 4.53 4.44
Nottingham 4.65 4.57
Oldham 4.78 4.59
Oxford 4.94 4.71
Plymouth 8.51 7.86
Portsmouth 5.43 5.17
Preston 4.82 4.67
Reading 5.24 4.95
Rhondda 6.52 5.98
Rochdale 4.36 4.12
Rotheram 5.26 5.03
St. Helens 5.77 5.60
Salford 5.06 5.02
Sheffield 4.86 4.80
Smethwick 5.17 5.00
Southampton 5.22 5.28
South Shields 8.15 8.12
Stockport 4.51 4.39
Stockton-on-Tees 5.67 5.38
Sunderland 6.99 6.80
Swansea 5.54 5.21
Tottenham 6.04 6.21
Tynemouth 7.29 7.58
Wallasey 5.22 4.98
Walsall 5.35 5.05
Walthamstow 5.82 5.92
Warrington 5.48 5.24
West Bromwich 5.30 5.04
West Ham 6.39 6.46
West Hartlepool 5.67 5.31
Wigan 5.51 5.46
Willesden 7.51 7.16
Wolverhampton 5.14 4.89
Worcester 4.61 4.45
York 4.93 4.71

Tenements

The Census (England and Wales) Act, 1890, required the Occupier, when in occupation of fewer than five rooms, to state the number of rooms occupied by him; and this enactment was repeated in the Act authorizing the following Census in 1901. It is true that the word "Room" was not defined in the Act, neither were any special instructions issued to Occupiers or to the Enumerators attempting such a definition. It is equally true, as was stated in the Report on the Census in 1891, that the term "Room" is very elastic, and can be stretched, by those who please, to cover a landing, a lobby, a closet, or any other more or less distinct space within a dwelling." It is obvious, however, that in spite of these drawbacks, the statistics of tenements collected at the last two Censuses, throw valuable light upon the important problem of the housing of the people; and there is no sufficient ground for doubting that the figures for 1891 and 1901 are fairly comparable, and that they thus afford the means for measuring approximately the progress made in this respect during the decennium.

The recorded number of tenements, or separate occupations, in England and Wales in 1901 was 7,036,868, giving an average of 4.62 persons per tenement or family, against 4.73 in 1891. There were, it appears, only 112 separate tenements or occupations both in 1891 and in 1901, to each 100 inhabited houses, having regard to the considerable proportion of tenemented houses in large towns, it is surprising that the excess of separate tenements is not greater, but the proportion being almost identical in 1891 and 1901, there appears to be no sufficient reason for doubting its approximate accuracy.

The following Table gives a summary of the Tenement statistics, and of the housing of the English population, based upon the Census returns in 1901, compared with similar figures for 1891.

Tenement Statistics (England and Wales) in 1891 and 1901.

Rooms In Tenements Tenements. Occupants of
Tenements.
Percentage
of Total Tenements.
Percentage
of Total Population in
each group of
Tenements.
Average Occupants
per Room.
1901. 1901. 1891. 1901. 1891. 1901. 1891. 1901.
1 Room 251,667 507,763 4.7 3.6 2.2 1.6 2.23 2.02
2 Rooms 658,203 2,158,644 11.4 9.4 8.3 6.6 1.73 1.64
3 Rooms 779,992 3,186,640 12.3 11.1 11.1 9.8 1.42 1.36
4 Rooms 1,596,664 7,130,062 23.9 22.7 23.5 21.9 1.16 1.12
5 or more Rooms 3,750,342 19,544,734 47.7 53.2 54.9 60.1 ? ?
                 
TOTAL 7,036,868 32,527,843 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 ? ?

This Table shows that, while 47.7 per cent. of the Tenements in 1891 consisted of five or more rooms, the proportion in 1901 had increased to 50.2 per cent.; on the other hand the proportion of tenements of fewer than five rooms had declined in the ten years from 52.0 to 46.8 per cent. The percentage indeed of each class of the smaller tenements showed decline in 1901:—tenements of one room, from 4.7 to 3.6, of two rooms, from 11.4 to 9.4, of three rooms, from 12.3 to 11.1, and of four rooms, from 23.9 to 22.7. It is moreover specially satisfactory to be able to note that the largest proportional decline occurred in the one and two-roomed tenements. indeed the number of one-roomed tenements in England and Wales showed a decline of more than 35,000 between 1891 and 1901. In 1901 the proportion of the English population living in tenements of five or more rooms was 60.1 per cent., against 54.9 per cent. in 1891; whereas only 1.6 per cent. were living in one-roomed tenements, instead of 2.2 per cent. as was the case in 1801. The above Table also shows that the average number of occupants of one-roomed tenements was 2.02 in 1901 against 2.23 in 1891; the average number of occupants of two-roomed tenements had also declined from 1.73 to 1.64, of three-roomed tenements from 1.42 to 1.36, and of four-roomed tenements from 1.16 to 1.12. All these figures may be assumed to indicate decreased crowding in the smaller tenements.

Overcrowded Tenements

In the Report on the Census in 1891 the importance of forming some kind of estimate of overcrowding, and the necessity for fixing upon some standard of over-crowding was fully recognized. It was obvious that the mere numbers of rooms and of their occupants, without regard to the size of the rooms or of the ages of the occupants (in order to show the number of young children) could not afford a perfect basis for estimating real overcrowding. It was, however, assumed in 1891, for the purpose of this estimate, that tenements containing more than two occupants per room (bedrooms and sitting-rooms included) might fairly be considered as overcrowded Accepting this apparently reasonable measure of overcrowding, the Census returns for 1891 showed 481,653 overcrowded tenements of fewer than five rooms; in these tenements, 3,258,044 persons, or 11.2 per cent. of the total population of England and Wales, were living in such overcrowded conditions.

Overcrowded Tenements (England and Wales) in 1891 and 1901.

Rooms in Tenements. One to four-roomed
Tenements with more than
two Occupants per Room.
Occupants
of such Tenements.
Percentage of Occupants
of such Tenements
to Total Population.
1891. 1901. 1891. 1901. 1891. 1901.
1 Room 92,259 66,669 357,707 245,586 1.23 0.76
2 Rooms 184,231 147,527 1,124,056 884,672 3.88 2.72
3 Rooms 120,031 102,556 951,877 807,596 3.28 2.48
4 Rooms 85,132 75,662 824,404 729,652 2.84 2.24
             
TOTAL UNDER
FIVE ROOMS
481,653 392,414 3,258,044 2,667,506 11.23 8.20

Adopting the same measure of overcrowding for 1901, the number of tenements in England and Wales, of fewer than five rooms, containing an average of more than two persons per room, had declined to 392,414. In these overcrowded tenements, 2,667,506 persons were enumerated, equal to 8.2 per cent. of the total population, against 11.2 per cent. living under similar conditions at the previous Census in 1891. These figures, compared in a different way, show that, of the total tenements of fewer than five rooms,. 11.9 per cent. were overcrowded (that is, contained more than two occupants per room) in 1901, whereas the proportion at the previous Census in 1891 had been equal to 15.0 per cent.

We have seen that the average number of persons per room, both in 1891 and in 1901, was highest in one-roomed tenements and steadily declined as the number of rooms in the tenement increased. It may, however, be of interest to note the proportions of overcrowded tenements of varying numbers of rooms. Of the 251,667 one-roomed tenements in 1901, the number containing more than two persons per room was 66,669 or 26.5 per cent.; in 1891, 32.2 per cent. of the one-roomed tenements were similarly overcrowded. Of two-roomed tenements, 22.4 per cent. were overcrowded in 1901 against 26.4 in 1891; of three-roomed tenements, 13.1 per cent. in 1901, against 15.9 in 1891; and of four-roomed tenements, 4.7 per cent. in 1901, against 5.8 per cent. in 1891. Thus, however the tenement figures for England and Wales in 1891 and in 1901 are compared, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that the comparison affords satisfactory evidence of distinct improvement in the housing of the people during the ten years 1891-1901. In consequence of the continued decline in the English Birth-rate, the proportion of young children in the population has decreased. The proportion of children under five years of age, which was equal to 13.6 per cent of the population at all ages in 1881, declined to 12.3 per cent. in 1891 and further fell to 11.4 per cent. in 1901. Thus it seems fair to assume that each 100 of the occupants of the tenements we have been considering included in 1901 an average of only 11 children under the age of five years instead of 12, as was the case in 1891, and 89 adults or children above that age instead of 88. This change of age constitution would to a slight extent tend to an understatement of the overcrowding in 1901, but its effect in this direction is so slight that it may practically be disregarded.

Tenements in Urban and Rural Districts

Having thus considered the tenement statistics for the whole of England and Wales, it is now desirable to examine and compare the figures for urban and Rural Districts in the aggregate, and for individual towns and districts.

Urban and Rural Tenement Statistics.

Rooms
in Tenements.
Percentage of Total
Tenements.
Percentage of Total Population
in each group of Tenements.
Average Occupants
per Room.
England
and
Wales.
Urban
Districts.
Rural
Districts.
England
and
Wales.
Urban
Districts.
Rural
Districts.
England
and
Wales.
Urban
Districts.
Rural
Districts.
1 Room 3.6 4.5 0.6 1.6 2.0 0.2 2.02 2.03 1.77
2 Rooms 9.4 10.4 6.0 6.6 7.4 3.9 1.64 1.67 1.47
3 Rooms 11.1 11.5 9.7 9.8 10.3 8.1 1.36 1.39 1.26
4 Rooms 22.7 21.7 25.8 21.9 21.2 24.0 1.12 1.14 1.05
5 or more Rooms 53.2 51.9 57.9 60.1 59.1 63.8 ? ? ?
                   
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 ? ? ?

The proportion of tenements with fewer than five rooms, which averaged 46.8 per cent. in the whole of England and Wales, was 48.1 per cent. in the aggregate of Urban Districts, and 42.1 per cent. in the aggregate of Rural Districts; and, while the proportion of one-roomed tenements to total tenements was 4.5 per cent. in the Urban Districts, it was less than one per cent. (0.6) in the Rural Districts. Twenty per 1,000 of the total population of Urban Districts were living in one-roomed tenements in 1901, while in Rural Districts the proportion was only two per 1,000.

Overcrowded Tenements in Urban and Rural Districts

It is, of course, not surprising to find that the overcrowded tenements were mainly recorded in the Urban Districts. Of the 392,414 overcrowded tenements in 1901, 335,737 were in Urban Districts and only 56,677 in Rural Districts; and while the proportion of the population living in overcrowded conditions was 8.9 per cent. in Urban Districts in 1901 (against 12.3 per cent. in 1891) it did not exceed 5.8 per cent. in Rural Districts, against 8.5 in 1891.

Overcrowding in Urban and Rural Districts.

Rooms
in Tenements.
One to four-roomed Tenements
with more than two Occu-
pants per Room.
Occupants
of such Tenements.
Percentage of
Occupants of such Tenements
to Total Population.
England
and
Wales.
Urban
Districts.
Rural
Districts.
England
and
Wales.
Urban
Districts.
Rural
Districts.
England
and
Wales.
Urban
Districts.
Rural
Districts.
1 Room 66,669 64,883 1,786 245,586 238,637 6,949 0.76 0.95 0.09
2 Rooms 147,527 128,589 18,938 884,672 769,427 115,245 2.72 3.07 1.54
3 Rooms 102,556 83,886 18,670 807,596 659,779 147,817 2.48 2.63 1.98
4 Rooms 75,662 58,379 17,283 729,652 563,156 166,496 2.24 2.25 2.23
                   
Total of one
to four rooms
392,414 335,737 56,677 2,667,506 2,230,999 436,507 8.20 8.90 5.84

Thus the proportion of overcrowded tenements in 1901 was more than fifty per cent. higher in the Urban than in the Rural Districts. The differences between the proportions of overcrowding in Urban and Rural populations are only such as might be expected, but a satisfactory explanation of the striking contrasts between the tenement and overcrowding statistics for individual Counties and large towns, given in Table 42 in Appendix A to this Report, is not so easy to determine, and the figures in this Table call for, and will doubtlessly receive, the earnest attention of the local Sanitary Authorities.

The Table referred to shows the proportion of tenements of one, two, three, four and of more than four rooms, to total tenements, and the number and proportion of persons living in overcrowded conditions in each Administrative County and County Borough, in each Metropolitan Borough, and also in 17 other Urban Districts having populations exceeding 50,000. These figures afford valuable aid in the consideration of the varying conditions under which local populations are housed; it will, however, be necessary here to restrict our observations on these figures to those points which suggest themselves as among the most useful for purposes of comparison:—namely (a) the proportion of tenements of one, two, three, and four rooms to total tenements; (b) the proportion of one roomed tenements to total tenements; and (c) the number and proportion of local populations living in overcrowded conditions.

In England and Wales, as has been seen, the proportion of tenements of fewer than five rooms to 1,000 total tenements in 1901 averaged 468; the proportions ranged in the several Administrative Countries from 187 in the Isle of Wight, 215 in the Soke of Peterborough, and 223 in. West Sussex to 491 in Shropshire, 495 in Denbighshire, 497 in Flintshire, 570 in the West Riding of Yorkshire, 659 in London, 757 in Durham, and 777 in Northumberland. The proportion of tenements of one room in 1,000 total tenements ranged in the Administrative Counties from one in Rutlandshire, and 2 in Derbyshire, Cheshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Westmorland, to 26 in Durham, 28 in East Sussex, 35 in Middlesex, 72 in Northumberland, and 147 in London. The proportion per cent. of the population of the different Administrative Counties living in overcrowded conditions ranged from 0.91 in the Isle of Wight, 1.05 in West Sussex and 1.31 in the Soke of Peterborough, to 8.03 in Cumberland, 9.72 in Pembrokeshire, 10.32 in Yorkshire (West Riding), 16.01 in London, 28.48 in Durham, and 32.09 in Northumberland. It should be borne in mind that Tables 20 and 21 in each of the County Parts of the Census Report contain detailed Tenement statistics for each Urban and Rural District included within the Administrative County, and thus afford the means for locating the administrative areas within each County in which overcrowding showed the largest excess in 1901. Speaking generally, however, it may be noted that in those Counties in which Coal Mining is a prevailing industry much overcrowding prevailed in 1901, for example, in the Rural Districts of Chester le Street, Lanchester and Easington, situated in the County of Durham, the proportions of over crowded persons to total population were as high as 37, 38, and 39 per cent. respectively.

England and Wales contained at the time of the last Census 67 County Boroughs, 17 other Urban Districts with populations exceeding 50,000, and 28 Metropolitan Boroughs, each of which had a population exceeding that limit. We propose to confine our comparison of Urban Tenement statistics to these 84 large towns, and the 28 Metropolitan Boroughs, although it is more than probable that similar statistics for smaller towns would present still wider contrasts.

The Metropolitan Tenement statistics were dealt with, in some detail, in the London County Part, but they may again be briefly referred to here. The proportion per 1,000 of tenements with fewer than five rooms declined from 672 in 1891 to 659 in 1901, and in 1901 ranged, in the 28 Metropolitan boroughs from 309 in Lewisham and 422 in Hampstead, to 805 in Stepney, 829 in Southwark, 842 in Bethnal Green, 849 in Shoreditch, and 851 in Finsbury. The proportion of one-roomed tenements per 1,000 of the total tenements, which averaged in the whole of London 184 in 1891, declined to 147 in 1901, when it ranged from 35 in Lewisham, 41 in Wandsworth and 64 in. Hampstead, to 263 in St. Marylebone, 264 in Finsbury and 270 in Holborn. In 1891, 19.67 per cent. of the total London population were living in overcrowded conditions; in 1901 the percentage of overcrowding had declined to 16.01, and ranged from 2.68 in Lewisham, 4.45 in Wandsworth, 5.53 in Stoke Newington, and 6.36 in Hampstead, to 29.62 in Bethnal Green, 29.95 in Shoreditch, 33.21 in Stepney, and 35.21 in Finsbury, From whatever point of view these statistics are regarded it is evident that the London population was unquestionably better housed in 1901 than in 1891, although in many parts of the Metropolis obvious overcrowding calls for further action by local Sanitary Authorities.

We may now consider the result of a comparative analysis of the Tenement statistics for the 84 large towns outside the Metropolis dealt with in Table 42 in Appendix A. to this Report. The lowest proportions of tenements with fewer than five rooms, per 1,000 of total tenements in these 84 large towns, were 128 in Reading, 130 in Handsworth, 157 in Kings Norton & Northfield, 178 in Leicester, 179 in Northampton and in Ipswich, and 183 in Derby; the proportion per 1,000 in the other towns ranged upwards to 733 in Oldham, 768 in Tynemouth, 772 in Sunderland, 778 in Devonport, 781 in Newcastle upon Tyne, 831 in South Shields, and 844 in Gateshead, The proportion of one-roomed tenements to total tenements showed wide variations, but was generally far below the average proportion in the Metropolitan Boroughs, which was 147 per 1,000; the number per 1,000 ranged from 1 in Preston, Warrington, and in Kings Norton & Northfield, and 2 in Wigan, Lincoln, and Hanley, to 82 in Sunderland, 86 in Brighton, 95 in Newcastle upon Tyne, 135 in Tynemouth, 166 in Devonport and 171 in Plymouth. The lowest percentages of the total population, living under over-crowded conditions, in these large towns were 0.62 in Bournemouth, 0.97 in Northampton, 1.05 in Leicester, 1.14 in Ipswich, 1.18 in Derby, 1.19 in Portsmouth, and 1.23 in Reading; the percentage of overcrowding ranged upwards in the other large towns to 17.38 in Devonport, 17.48 in Dudley, 20.19 in Plymouth, 30.10 in Sunderland, 30.47 in Newcastle upon Tyne, 30.71 in Tynemouth, 32.42 in South Shields, and 34.4 in Gateshead. Portsmouth, Leicester and Derby were among the large towns showing the least overcrowding both in 1891 and 1901; whereas Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, Sunderland and Plymouth were among the large towns showing the highest proportions of overcrowded populations both in 1891 and 1901.


1 The tenement statistics on pages 42, 43 corroborate the assumption of overcrowding in London, Gateshead, Newcastle upon Type, South Shields, and Devenport.

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