The census of 1901 had recorded that there were 4,536,541 persons in London. It also recorded that the total number of tenements was 1,019,546. It further showed that of these tenements no fewer than 672,030 were tenements of less than five rooms; and then going into details of these 672,030 tenements it showed that—
| 149,524 | were tenements of | one room. | |
| 201,431 | „„ | two rooms. | |
| 181,542 | „„ | three | „ |
| 139,533 | „„ | four | „ |
Comparing these figures with those for 1891 it appeared that—
“A marked improvement had taken place in the manner in which persons occupying tenements of less than five rooms are housed in London. The shifting of the population in the ten years from the tenements of one or two rooms to the more ample accommodation provided in tenements of three or four rooms is conspicuous.”[195]
There had been a reduction in the number of one-room tenements, which are justly regarded as the worst of all from 172,503 in 1891, to 149,524 in 1901, whilst there had been an increase in the number of two, three, and four-room tenements.
As to the numbers of persons living in these 672,030 tenements—
| 304,874 | persons lived in tenements of | one room. | ||
| 701,203 | „„„ | two rooms. | ||
| 752,221 | „„„ | three | „ | |
| 691,491 | „„„ | four | „ | |
| –——— | ||||
| Total | 2,449,789 | |||
Still, therefore, well over half the population of London lived in tenements of less than five rooms; whilst over 1,000,000 lived in tenements of one or two rooms—and between one- and two-room tenements there is not much to differentiate.
By further details given (as in 1891) each Sanitary Authority was “provided with the means of examining with much precision into the house accommodation of its district.”