The Medical Officer of Health for the Strand gave a report on the sanitary state of Bedfordbury:—
“Bedfordbury is the black spot of this parish. It and the contiguous courts are a little over three acres. Population census of 1871 = 2,163. It is a long narrow street of 47 houses with courts leading out of it on either side. Some of the courts are blind and very narrow, thus rendering light and air difficult of access.
“These 47 houses are so old and dilapidated that it is quite impossible to make them fit and proper habitation for the poor to live in.
“Even this bright and sunny morning the staircases were so dark that you could not see a single stair—there was not a scrap of ventilation, and no means of getting light or air to them.
“No. 37 is occupied by 33 people living in six rooms; on the second floor the two rooms are tenanted by two families, respectively five and seven, and the third floor by two families of six each.”
No. 41 was very similar. “These two houses may be taken as a type of the condition of the houses in Bedfordbury.”
“Off this street were various Courts, one of them of six three-roomed houses; its width three feet five. Another Court—seven houses, 20 rooms in all—population 71. All of them apparently as bad, or worse, than those in the street—miserable hovels, the birthplace of disease and vice, and centres for infectious diseases, which are likely to spread through the whole community.”
The births and deaths were almost equivalent. In 1872, there were 92 births and 95 deaths. In 1873, there were 108 births and 108 deaths.