Housing

By 1901, attempts to alleviate the worst of urban slums were beginning to work.

The census reported that an average of 8.2 per cent of the population of England and Wales lived in overcrowded conditions (more than two to a room; four, if there were children), three per cent fewer than 1891. Figures could range as high as 35 per cent for some industrial areas.

Many workers lived in “back-to-backs”, two-roomed houses in terraced rows that backed onto the houses in the street behind. Outdoor lavatories were located in the small yards behind, often where you would also find the household’s single tap. This drove epidemic disease and death. In 1895, for example, the Six Towns in the Potteries had the fourth worst infant mortality rate in England. Continued improvements in housing and sanitation did however have an effect: 20 years later the region no longer figured in the top 25.

The Housing of the Working Classes Acts of 1890 and 1900 gave local authorities the right to build council housing for their workers. In addition, cheaper, more frequent public transport put the countryside within reach, making the idea of “suburbia” achievable for the masses, not just the middle classes. In September 1901, the Garden City Association met in Birmingham to press for the creation of “slumless, smokeless cities”. As a result, the first “garden city”, at Letchworth, was created by 1903.

Judith Flanders