And Lord Shaftesbury described a great demolition of houses which took place a few years previously in the neighbourhood of Field Lane, City: “1,000 houses were pulled down; 4,000 families, comprising 12,000 individuals, were turned out and driven into the surrounding tenements.”
Lord Granville suggested, as a remedy, the provision of cheap trains to carry artizans from healthy dwellings in the suburbs to the scene of their work, and Lord Redesdale said he had introduced clauses into the Railway Bill providing that the companies should run a cheap train every day. But, as Lord Shaftesbury pointed out,[84] that would not be sufficient, as—
“In some cases the men are under an engagement to their employers not to live more than a certain distance from the warehouse,” in order that no time might be lost in executing orders.
The remedy, moreover, could only be very gradual in its operation, and was quite inadequate to meet the existing emergency.
This demolition of houses had thus the two-fold result of at once intensifying overcrowding in the remaining houses in the localities affected, and in extending the area of overcrowding by causing a migration to other localities, many of which were themselves rapidly becoming overcrowded. And this, combined with the natural growth of the population and the constant stream of immigration into London, resulted in overcrowding on a far larger scale than had hitherto prevailed.
In Mile-End-Old-Town the West Ward had received in the decade 1851–61 an addition of 3,094 persons, whilst but 84 new houses had been built—the South Ward 1,372 persons and 71 new houses built.
In Shoreditch, in 1863, “The tendency to overcrowding was increasing year by year.
“Being mostly operatives, &c. … accustomed to live near their places of employment, they were naturally unwilling to travel further than necessary, and so have accepted the readiest accommodation for their families.”
Of Whitechapel, the Medical Officer of Health wrote in 1865:—