Habitations

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III.—HABITATIONS.

1. Houses and Tenements.

So long as we are engaged simply with the bare number of the population, we are on sufficiently sure ground. Here and there, doubtlessly, a house or two may have passed unnoticed, and a few persons travelling all night, or sleeping in barns or in the open air, may have escaped the enumerator. But, after numerous testings, and careful examination of all alleged larger omissions, we have convinced ourselves that for all practical purposes the enumeration was complete and trustworthy. But so soon as we get beyond the bare numbers of the living, and deal with their habitations, ages, sexes, occupations, and the various other topics of inquiry, we find ourselves engaged in subjects where a very considerable margin must be allowed for possible error; and, in order that those who use the figures may have some knowledge of the extent to which they may be trusted, we shall, in dealing with each of the topics, preface our remarks by a distinct avowal of such causes of possible error as may be known to us.

In each successive Census Act it has been provided that not only should the number of people be taken, but also the number of houses in which they live. In the Act tinder which the enumeration of 1891 was made this provision as to houses was repeated; but, for the first time, it was further enacted that account should also be taken of all tenements with less than five rooms. No distinct definition was given in the Act of the terms house, tenement, or room; and we have reason to believe that the same meaning was not invariably attached to them by those who were locally engaged in the enumeration.

According to the instructions issued by us for the guidance of the enumerator, all the space within the external and party walls of a building was to be considered a separate house, by however many families, living in distinct tenements or apartments, it might be occupied. By a tenement was to be understood any house or part of a house separately occupied either by the owner or by a tenant ; and a separate schedule was to be given to the occupier of each such tenement. It is plain to us, however, that these instructions were by no means invariably observed, and it appears that the term "tenement" was especially the cause of much confusion. Some thought that house and tenement were equivalent terms which might be used indifferently for each other, and we had instances in which several hundreds of flats, instead of being returned only as separate tenements, were returned as separate houses. In other cases a flat or lodging, separately occupied and therefore returnable as a tenement, was altogether ignored, and its occupiers returned as members of the family of the landlord who lived in the rest of the house. There were even instances in which the enumerator appears to have thought that a tenement meant a room occupied by members of different families in common, and returned in consequence each separate room in a common lodging-house as a separate tenement. All such errors, when detected, were corrected by us; but, as such detection could only be the result of chance, we cannot but suppose that many similar mis-statements have gone unconnected.

As regards the term "room" we gave no instructions. Such would have been useless, as the instructions could only reach the enumerator; and it was not the enumerator but the occupier himself who had to state on his schedule whether his tenement had less than five rooms, and if so how many. 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. When it is borne in mind that overcrowding is a legal offence, it is in the highest degree probable that a man, with a large family crowded into a small tenement, will in his schedule have given at any rate the widest possible interpretation to the word "room." It is possible that this want of precision in the use of the term may account for some of the extraordinary differences in regard to house accommodation which will be presently shown to exist between different counties and different towns. We can, however, only deal with the figures as they stand.

Houses

According, then, to the returns there were altogether in England and Wales, 5,451,497 inhabited houses, besides 372,184 uninhabited, and 38,387 in course of building; the inhabited houses having increased 12.8 per cent. since 1881, while the uninhabited had decreased by 37, and the houses in course of building by 17.3, per cent. in the same period. This decrease in the number of houses in process of building may possibly be accounted for by the fact that during the months of January and February in 1891 a check was.put upon all building operations by a prolonged period of severe frost, which may have prevented the undertaking of new works; but at the same time it must be observed, that this temporary depression had passed away before the month of April, and that at the actual date of the enumeration, according to information furnished by the Labour Department of the Board of Trade, the percentage of unemployed hands in the Building Trade Unions had fallen to an almost infinitesimal figure. It must, moreover, be admitted that the returns of houses in process of erection, being dependent upon the casual observation of the enumerator, are not founded on a very trustworthy basis.

The average number of occupants to each inhabited house was 5.32, against 5.38 In 1881, and 5.33 in 1871. No material change, therefore, has occurred in the last 20 years in the proportion borne by population to houses. The proportion varies, of course, greatly in different areas, being highest naturally in great towns, where space is valuable, and the houses of large size, But for each individual town the proportion has remained fairly constant as will be seen in the following table, which gives the proportion for London and all municipal towns with more than 100,000 inhabitants.

Towns.	Population per inhabited House.		Towns.	Population per inhabited House.
	1881.	1891.		1881.	1891.
Birmingham	5.12	5.01	London	7.84	7.72
Blackburn	5.18	4.91	Manchester	5.09	5.04
Bolton	5.04	4.89	Newcastle-upon-Tyne	7.17	7.33
Bradford	4.88	4.72	Norwich	4.45	4.53
Brighton	6.20	5.93	Nottingham	4.84	4.65
Bristol	6.45	6.27	Oldham	4.94	4.78
Cardiff	6.79	6.30	Portsmouth	5.64	5.43
Croydon	5.73	5.43	Preston	4.96	4.82
Hull	4.77	4.71	Salford	5.15	5.06
Leeds	4.76	4.71	Sheffield	4.96	4.86
Leicester	4.93	4.89	Sunderland	7.24	7.00
Liverpool	5.99	5.68	West Ham	6.73	6.39

Such change as has occurred in the proportions has been, it will be noticed, in a direction that suggests diminished crowding; for, with two exceptions, the proportion of persons per house was lower in all these towns in 1891 than it had been in 1881.

Tenements

The total number of tenements in England and Wales was, according to the returns, 6,131,001; which gives, with a population of 29,002,525, an average of 4.7 persons to each tenement; and of.1.12 tenements, or distinct occupancies, to each inhabited house.

These tenements, with their inhabitants, may be classified in the way shown in the first four columns of the following table:—

ENGLAND AND WALES.

Tenements with.	Number of Tene- ments.	Percent- age of all Tene- ments.	Total Occupants.	Percent- age of Pop- ulation in each Group of Tene- ments.	Average Occupants per Room.	Overcrowding.
						Number of one to four Roomed Tene- ments with more than two Occu- pants per Room.	Number of Occupiers of such Tenements.	Percent- age of Popula- tion in such Tene- ments.
Column.	1.	2.	3.	4.	5.	6.	7.	8.
1 room	286,946	4.7	640,410	2.2	2.23	92,259	357,707	1.23
2 rooms	697,322	11.4	2,416,617	8.3	1.73	184,231	1,124,056	3.88
3 rooms	756,756	12.3	3,227,464	11.1	1.42	120,031	951,877	3.28
4 rooms	1,464,681	23.9	6,814,069	23.5	1.16	85,132	824,404	2.84
5 or more rooms	2,925,296	47.7	15,903,965	54.9	—	—	—	—
Totals	6,131,001	100.0	29,002,525	100.0	—	481,653	3,258,044	11.23

It thus appears (Col. 4) that 54.9 per cent., or more than half, of the population lived in tenements of more than four rooms; that only 2.2 per cent. lived in single-roomed tenements, 8.3 per cent. in two-roomed tenements, 11.1 per cent. in three-roomed tenements, and 23.5 per cent. in tenements with four rooms.

The average number of occupants per room (Col. 5) was 2.23 in single-roomed tenements, 1.73 in two-roomed, 1.42 in three-roomed, and 1.16 in four-roomed dwellings; so that the fewer the rooms in a tenement the larger the proportion of occupants per room.

An average of 2.23 and of 1.73 occupants per room in the two smaller kinds of tenements suggests much overcrowding, especially when it is remembered that the average would be much higher were it not for the large number of single men, or of married couples without children, who live in lodgings of this small size.

Overcrowding

In order to form some kind of estimate of the amount of overcrowding that really exists, all tenements so held, and their occupants, should be put out of account, and the form in which the Tenement Tables have been constructed admits of this being done. We must first, however, define what we are to take as a standard of overcrowding. It is plain that the number of rooms and occupants is not in itself an absolutely sure guide, because rooms differ largely from each other in size, still we may be tolerably certain that the rooms in tenements with, less than five rooms will not, in any but exceptional cases, be of large size, and that ordinary tenements which have more than two occupants per room, bedrooms and sitting rooms included, may safely be considered as unduly overcrowded.

Excluding, then, all one-roomed tenements with not more than two occupants, all two-roomed tenements with not more than four occupants, all three-roomed tenements with not more than six, and all four-roomed tenements with not more than eight occupants, there remain 481,653 tenements of fewer than five rooms apiece, in each of which there were more than two inhabitants per room, that is to say, 481,653 overcrowded tenements according to the definition of overcrowding adopted above.

In these 481,655 overcrowded tenements dwelt 3,258,044 persons, or 11.23 per cent. of the total population; the average number of persons per room amounting to 2.8.

By far the most numerous among these overcrowded tenements (Col. 6.) were those with two rooms, then those with three, then those with one; while fewest of all were those with four rooms.

There may, of course, have been, and doubtless there was, some amount of overcrowding in tenements of larger size than these, that is in tenements with more than four rooms; but as to the extent of this there are no data for calculation.

Having now considered the facts regarding tenements for England and Wales in the aggregate, let us see what was the state of things in its different parts. Tables are given in Vol. II. (Table 6 in each divisional part), which show for each Sanitary District the total number of tenements of all sizes, and the numbers of these that had respectively one, two, three, and four rooms. They further show, for each of these four groups of small tenements, how many had one, two, three, four, five, and so on up to twelve, occupants, so that, assuming the returns made to have been correct, each Sanitary Authority is now provided with the means of examining with much precision into the house accommodation of its district.

From the data furnished in these detailed tables, further tables have been constructed (Tables 29 and 30 in Appendix A.), showing for each registration county and for each great town, in the first four columns, the proportion of tenements that had respectively one, two, three, or four rooms; and, in the second four columns, what was the average number of occupants per room in each of these; while, finally, two more columns have been added showing what number of persons in these tenements were living in a state of overcrowdedness, as defined above, and what percentage this number was of the total population of the county or town.

Tenements in Urban and Rural Sanitary Districts

Before we consider the differences presented by different counties and different towns, it will be well to contrast the urban districts with the rural districts, and adopting the same form of presentation as was used in the last table for all England and Wales, we have constructed the following table, of which the upper portion gives the figures for the urban and the lower portion for the rural sanitary districts, each in the aggregate.

Tenements with.	Number of Tene- ments.	Percent- age of all Tene- ments.	Total Occu- pants.	Percent- age of Population in each group of Tene- ments.	Average Occup- ants per Room.	Overcrowding.
						Number of one to four roomed Tene- ments with more than two occupants per Room.	Number of Occupants of such Tenements.	Percent- age of Popu- lation in such Tene- ments.
Column.	1.	2.	3.	4.	5.	6.	7.	8.
Urban Districts.
1 room	270,252	6.16	604,355	2.89	2.24	87,535	337,107	1.61
2 rooms	552,516	12.59	1,958,983	9.38	1.77	151,608	922,964	4.42
3 rooms	552,679	12.60	2,411,589	11.54	1.45	91,206	722,582	3.46
4 rooms	981,665	22.38	4,684,913	22.42	1.19	60,876	589,810	2.82
5 or more rooms	2,030,199	46.27	11,235,714	53.77	—	—	—	—
Total	4,387,311	100.0	20,895,504	100.0	—	391,220	2,572,413	12.31
Rural Districts.
1 room	16,694	0.96	36,055	0.44	2.16	4,724	20,600	0.25
2 rooms	144,806	8.30	457,684	5.65	1.58	32,628	201,092	2.48
3 rooms	204,077	11.70	815,875	10.06	1.33	28,825	229,345	2.83
4 rooms	483,016	27.70	2,129,156	26.26	1.10	24,256	234,594	2.90
5 or more rooms	895,097	51.34	4,668,251	57.59	—	—	—	—
Total	1,743,690	100.0	8,107,021	100.0	—	90,433	685,631	8.46

On comparing the upper with the lower part of this table it will be seen (Col. 2) that the proportion of 1,2, and 3-roomed tenements to tenements of all sizes was much higher in the urban than in. the rural districts, while the contrary was the case with the 4-roomed tenements—4-roomed cottages being a very common type of dwelling in villages—and also with tenements of larger size; and further that it was in the single-roomed tenements that the urban excess was most pronounced, over six per cent. of the urban tenements consisting of single rooms, while the proportion was less than one per cent. among the rural tenements. Secondly, it will be noted (Col. 8) that in each group of tenements the average number of occupants per room was greater in the urban than in the rural communities; and thirdly, it will be seen (Col. 8) that the amount of overcrowding as previously defined, that is the percentage of the population living in 1-4 roomed tenements with an average of more than two occupants per room, was nearly fifty per cent. higher in the towns than in the country, the proportion being 12.31 per cent. in the former, and only 8.46 per cent. in the latter.

Differences in overcrowding in the great towns

These differences are of course such as might be expected, as being the natural results of the greater costliness of space in towns. But less easy is it to explain the extraordinary differences between the towns themselves when compared with each other. The figures for the 33 great towns that are included in the Registrar-General's weekly returns are given in Table 30 of Appendix A., and on examining that table it will be seen that the proportion of the population living in an overcrowded condition, as previously defined, varies as much as from 1.74 to 40.78 per cent. without any very apparent explanation.

The six great towns in which the percentages of overcrowded persons were the highest were as follows:—

Gateshead	40.78		Plymouth	26.27
Newcastle-upon-Tyne	35.08		Halifax	21.31
Sunderland	32.85		Bradford	20.61

On the other hand, the six towns with the lowest percentage were these:—

Preston	4.13		Derby	2.69
Nottingham	3.62		Leicester	2.22
Croydon	2.76		Portsmouth	1.74

Portsmouth and Plymouth would appear to be towns having much resemblance to each other in their general character; yet in Portsmouth less than 2 per cent. of the population are apparently overcrowded, while in Plymouth the percentage is over 26. Leicester and Bradford again are two large industrial towns, both engaged in textile manufactures; for the former, the percentage is 2.22, and for the latter 20.61, or nearly 10 times as high. Possibly accurate local knowledge may be able to account for such remarkable contrasts; but there is nothing in the data supplied by the Census that, so far as we can discover, throws light oh it.

Differences in overcrowding in counties

Similarly wide differences are presented by the figures for different registration counties; the six with most overcrowding (London omitted) and the six with least, and their several percentages, being as follows:—

Northumberland	38.69		Herefordshire	3.65
Durham	34.03		Kent	3.00
West Riding of Yorkshire	16.49		Sussex	2.90
Pembroke	14.33		Radnorshire	2.79
Cumberland	13.02		Surrey	2.70
Warwickshire	11.82		Hampshire	2.58

These differences are not quite so unintelligible as those between the towns; the overcrowded counties, as a rule, are industrial and especially mining comities and contain large towns; while the least overcrowding is, as a rule, in the counties where there are neither large manufactures nor large industrial towns.

Speaking generally, it would appear that the coalbearing counties are those where the crowding of dwellings is most severe. Northumberland and Durham, if the figures are to be trusted, are far away the worst in this respect. Nor can this be attributed merely to the presence of Newcastle and Tynemouth in the former, and of Gateshead and Sunderland in the latter. For even when these towns, and all other urban sanitary districts that have more than 15,000 inhabitants, are taken out of toe account, the figures that represent the amount of overcrowding in the residue of the counties are still excessively high, indeed are slightly higher than when the towns are included.

Thus in Northumberland, where the percentage of overcrowding in. the population is 38.69 there are three urban sanitary districts with 15,000 or more inhabitants, viz., Newcastle Bedlingtonshire, and Tynemouth; in these the percentages are respectively 35.08, 49.61 and 35.03; but in the remainder of the county the percentage is 41.27. In the registration county of Durham there are 10 urban sanitary districts with over 15 000 inhabitants apiece, these with their overcrowded percentages being as follows:—

Hebburn	55.29	Sunderland	32.85
Felling	52.46	Hartlepool	31.11
Jarrow	46.18	West Hartlepool	18.81
Gateshead	40.78	Darlington	17.80
South Shields	39.53	Stockton	13.76

But when these 10 urban districts are taken out of the account, the percentage in the remainder of the county is still 34.81.

2. Ships, Barges, and Boats.

It appears from returns collected and supplied to us by the officers of Her Majesty's Customs that 6,426 seagoing or coasting merchant vessels were in the ports of England and Wales on the night of the census, or arrived there in the course of the next day. Of these, 5,432 were British vessels, while the remaining 994 were either foreign or colonial. On board these merchant ships were 41,111 persons, of whom a considerable proportion were of course foreign sailors; for the total European sailors of foreign birth enumerated in England and Wales amounted to 15,083, to whom would further have to be added sailors of American, Asian, or African origin.

There were also afloat, on rivers or canals, 4,301 barges or boats engaged in inland navigation, having on board 11,373 persons (Vol. II., Table VII, p. xxxiv,).

Thus the total number of persons on merchant vessels, barges, and boats, in ports or on rivers and canals, amounted to 52,484. To these have further to be added, in order to get the whole population afloat, the crews and other persons on board Her Majesty's ships at home (Vol. II., Table VI., p. xxxiii.). These, however, are not separated in the table from the inmates of naval barracks. Including these with the crews, the population on board Her Majesty's ships at home consisted of 18,400 persons, making, with the 52,484 on merchant vessels, barges, and boats, a total floating population of 70,884 persons.

3. Barns, Sheds, Caravans, &c.

Of the total enumerated population, 15,983 persons were not living either in houses or on ships, but in some temporary substitute or in the open air; namely, 3,149 in barns or sheds, and 12,834 in caravans, tents, or the open air, most of these latter being probably in caravans.

It can hardly be doubted that these figures considerably understate the reality, for the detection and enumeration of this nomad population is manifestly one in which chance must have a great share.

In both groups the male nomads considerably outnumbered the females, and especially was this the case among those who were sheltering in barns and sheds, and who doubtlessly belonged to the class of tramps. Among these were 2,548 males but only 601 females, the former outnumbering the latter in the proportion of more than four to one. Among the dwellers in caravans, tents, or the open air the disproportion was not nearly so great, there being 6,921 of the male and 5,913 of the female sex, the better protection of the caravans and tents being more suited for women than the casual shelter of a barn or shed.

The shelterers in barns and sheds were far more numerous in Kent than in any other county, and next to Kent came Surrey, Sussex, and Berkshire, and then Buckinghamshire and Middlesex. Considerably more than half the whole group were enumerated in these six counties, and consisted doubtlessly of tramps on their way to or from London.

The occupants of caravans, &c. also abounded in the counties that surround London, but were to be found in considerable proportions in the neighbourhood of other great towns or industrial centres, where the peripatetic dealer or showman would find the best market for his wares or most visitors for his exhibition. Thus they were numerous not only round London, but in Lancashire with Cheshire, in the West Riding, and in the densely populated coalfields of. Glamorganshire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Northumberland, and Durham But, in addition to these, and without any apparent reason there were comparatively many of them in the Eastern Counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, and in the South-Western Counties, and in Gloucestershire.

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