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�THE LATE FBISCffi CONSORT, AT SHE GREAT EXHIBITION OF 1851.
NOW ERECTED AT KENNINGTON PARK.
MODEL COTTAGES FOR WORKING MEN, DESIGNED UPON THE OPEN STAIRCASE PJSINCIP&E, BY HENRY ROHAftTS, ESQ., F.&A.
PLATE
{See Page 30.)
1.
m
�OVERCROWDING;
THE EVIL AND ITS REMEDY.
LONDON:
LONGMANS,
GREEN
18 6 6
AND
CO.
�PRINTED BY
WATERLOW AND SONS, CARPENTERS’ HALL,
LONDON WALL.
�OVERCROWDING;
THE EVIL AND ITS REMEDY.
One of the most momentous, and one of the most pressing
questions of our age is this of how to find healthful, pure,
and comfortable dwelling-house accommodation for the in
dustrial classes of the community. The distinct and specific
object of the present publication is to bring the general his
tory and various practical bearings of that question n-nder
comprehensive review, within as narrow a scope, in as con
secutive a form, and with as much completeness of detail
as, within reasonable limits, is possible.
The importance of the subject is beginning to be acknow
ledged on all hands. The most illustrious princes, the most
influential statesmen, and the most laborious philanthropists
of our time, have not only had their attention called to it,
but have brought to its consideration their deepest solicitude
—to its exposition and enforcement, their highest eloquence.
It is a question in which the late lamented Prince Consort
took an anxious and practical interest—a fact which, of itself,
might be accepted as a proof of its urgency; for Prince Albert
did not patronise philanthropy as one of the pet amuse
ments of the day, or devote himself to the investigation of
its many problems as fields for curious speculation or dilletanti
research. Into his studies of topics of this nature he brought
�4
OVERCROWDING ;
the true and earnest spirit of a wise beneficence—a benefi
cence in which the calm and judicial sense of the philosopher
was ever in the service of a right Christian devotion to the
welfare of mankind.
Since Prince Albert took the step which may be almost
said to have given birth to one of the most glorious social
reformations ever initiated, and to which reference will
again, in due course, have to be made, the importance of the
question has increased in a degree which may, without any
exaggeration, be described as appalling. And the importance
of the question must necessarily increase with the increase
of our population, and with the increase of the material ad
vantages with which our country is being so liberally blessed.
This question involves the prime conditions of the physical
health, the moral purity, the social order, and the political
honour of the community ; it comprises the leading terms
on which the welfare of the individual, as also that of the
State, can be secured.
It must not be forgotten, however, that a general and ear
nest public interest in the question will be absolutely neces
sary to the carrying out of this great reform. To help to
create that public interest is the aim of the present writer.
The patronage of a prince, an occasional speech in the House
of Lords or the House of Commons, an experimental effort
here and there to oope with a mightily abounding evil, will
be, however noble in themselves, mournfully inadequate to
the demands of the case. Until the whole body of the peo
ple, the rich and the poor, the small and the great, shall be
brought to see its interest and to feel its duty in this mat
ter, abuses and corruptions will accumulate until they explode
in catastrophe. Truths are wrapped up in this question
which the people themselves must learn, before the question
can be considered to be solved. Ignorance of those troths
will be fatal, not only to the efforts made to achieve reform,
but, what is worse, to the very people in whose behalf the
reform is attempted. And even information will be of little
�THE EVIL AND ITS REMEDY.
5
service, in such an enterprise as this, unless it is backed by
conscience and vitalised by faith. Indeed, it is as true in the
actual providence of life, as it is in the code of Divine Jus
tice, that with an increase of knowledge comes an increase
of responsibility; and that ignorance is never punished so
severely for its sins, as intelligence is for its sins. “That ser
vant which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself,
neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many
stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things
worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.”
Now, the connection between the health and the virtue of
a community and its sanitary condition has been demon
strated in facts innumerable. The science of this question
is as positive as any which comes within the range of human
study. The principal lessons of sanitary science, moreover,
are not only acknowledged by the faculty—they are, to a
greater or a less degree, comprehended by every but the
lowest class of society. But do we practice what we know ?
Do we live according to the light which has been given us ?
Are we not, on the contrary, fully conscious of the humili
ating fact that, whilst our information has increased, the evils
of which we have through that information become cogni
sant have increased also ? Although the state of education
in England was never anything like so high and satisfactory
as at the present moment, it is to be feared that, through the
stolid selfishness of the rich, and the selfish stolidity of the
poor, the sanitary condition of England was never, in some
momentous respects, so bad as now. Notwithstanding those
enterprises a rapid historical survey of which will be found
in these pages, it yet remains true that the necessity for
overcrowding is being forced upon the London poor at a rate
more rapid than that at which improved accommodation is
being provided for them. It cannot be denied that the drain
age of the metropolis is, as a system, more complete than at
any former period; yet we get only a very partial benefit from
�6
OVERCROWDING J
this fact, owing to the manner in which the people are
huddled together, without the sweet purifications of fresh air,
or the scarcely less necessary refreshment of heaven’s light;
compelled to breath diffused death, and existing under wellknown conditions of inevitable emaciation, probable pestilence,
and all but certain moral as well as physical degeneracy.
Wise men learn the truth and obey it. Fools learn only
by experience ; and the experimental fruits of insanitary sins
are so subtle in their development, and so occasional in the
more startling calamities that mark their growth, that fools,
■without the aid of wise men, will never learn the truth at all.
The wise men, however, have compared the phenomena of
health and of disease until they have mastered the chief laws
by which the relations of health and d isease are regulated. And
now the science of the subject is clear. Alas, that only gigantic
public calamities should have the power of enforcing its
lessons upon us ! Alas, that men who are wise enough to build
up a science of health, should be fools enough to neglect
their own prescriptions until disaster comes upon them in
furious desolation, to prove that truth is sacred and may not
with impunity be profaned, and that God’s laws are sup
ported by the omnipotence of His own dread justice, whose
chastisements fall on all by whom they are outraged and
defied!
An old proverb says, that “ self preservation is the first
law of nature.” If we look at life in its larger relations and
more general manifestations, apart from the accidents that
startle our deepest instincts into their boldest action, and
those occasional moods of the soul when the sense of practical
responsibility seems to acquire the intensity of religious
enthusiasm, it is to be feared that the proverb finds but par
tial illustration in the habits of mankind. How few of us
live day by day according to the laws of life ! How little do
conservative considerations obtain in the physical customs
and personal indulgences of even the most enlightened mem
�THE EVIL AND ITS REMEDY.
7
bers of our community ! How recklessly do we mix poison
with our food, and death with our drinks ! How shamelessly
do we trample on the divinely ordained canons of health
which have been made known to us ! But, in no case is the
instinct which prompts to self-preservation more atrociously
or systematically ignored than in the matter of the construc
tion, the situation, and the material administration of our
dwelling-houses. In relation to thousands upon thousands of
our fellow countrymen our elaborate economy of civilisation
is but an artistic aggravation of the native barbarities of the
race. Why do men build houses at all ? W hy do they not
encamp on the open heath, in the beautiful meadows, on the
hill-side, heaven’s sun shining upon them, and the stars their
faithful night-watchers ? The answer might be furnished by
a fool, and it would be a foolish answer. A house, we say,
is a memorial of family association, a temple for all homely
adorations, a device for the protection of social delicacy, a
shelter from the stormy blast and the treacherous air, a pro
tection against fatal fogs and the pestilential vapours that
rise from the diseased earth. Such is the pretence of civili
sation. Now, in multitudes of instances, what is the fact ?
A house is but a den of depravity, a haunt of indecencies
which in the open air would be intolerable even to those who
are doomed to the endurance of them, a nest of pestilence, a
sepulchre into which living corpses are thrown in heaps, and
under the very eye of society are left to putrify before disso
lution has commenced its work, at once the citadel of fever
and the sanctuary of famine, where a torpid revelry in ghastly
indelicacies is almost the only sign that human conscience
and human consciousness are not altogether extinct. If “ self
preservation were the first law of nature,” what poor wretch
would seek a dwelling in these abodes of death ? And, if it
should be said that the poor are helpless and must be pitied
in their misery, if self-preservation were really the first law
of nature, would, not the wealthy and the well-to-do at once
�8
OVERCROWDING ;
set about the correction of an evil which is pregnant with
peril as with shame to them ? Would they not take care
that the “ fever nests ” which have been built close to their
own mansions should be destroyed ? Would they not recog
nise their common interest in the welfare and the health of
their neighbours ? Would they not, knowing as they do that
pestilence does not confine its desolations to the scenes where
it has its birth, but assails the miscellaneous throng with a
most undiscriminating ferocity, seek, by purifying the whole
locality in which they reside, to protect themselves against
its ravages ? They would, if selfishness were not a blind
and a perverted passion within them. As the miser starves to
death rather than spend the gold he worships on the means
of life; so, too often, does society cherish the spirit of a
wicked and delusive self-security rather than make the little
sacrifice necessary to its own health and happiness.
It is a melancholy fact on which to reflect, but it is a fact,
that our wonderful material progress as a nation is the great
cause of the dangers which press upon us, and to the removal
of which it is the aim of the writer, in his own way, to con
tribute. When an enterprising- individual advances from
poverty to opulence, he mostly improves himself in all the
departments of his own personal being, and in all the asso
ciations of his life as he goes along. He will adapt himself
to his changing circumstances with an elasticity and tact
than which there is in human nature scarcely anything more
extraordinary or more admirable. His providential capacity
improves with his improving fortunes, so that dignity sits
easily upon him, and his new responsibilities find him pre
pared to sustain and discharge them. It is not always so,
however. Some men get rich who display no faculty for the
rational enjoyment or the honourable dispensation of their
wealth. They are always in a muddle. Their poor relations
are kept about them in a squalid condition, a disgrace to
themselves and a nuisance to the neighbourhood. Their
�THE EVIL AND ITS REMEDY.
9
rooms are just as small as in the old time ; the only difference
being that they are now inconveniently crowded with incon
gruous furniture. All the actual embarrassments of life are
unchanged. There has been no development of the method
and plan of existence corresponding with the development
of its means and resources. Our metropolitan community
has, it must be confessed, shown very much of this spirit of
improvidence in its recent amazing progress. Its wealth has
increased enormously; so has its population. But it has not
applied its increase of wealth to the task of providing im
proved accommodation to its rapidly and awfully accumulating
numbers. Thus its comforts have diminished as its means of
providing them have augmented. It has vigorously com
menced repairing the mischief at one end, but this only
increases the confusion and humiliation at the other. We have
proceeded to the enlargement of our shops and warehouses,
and to the improvement of our facilities for locomotion; but
this has resulted in a formidable contraction of the area allotted
to the necessarily resident population. Our public improve
ments, in fact, have been carried out without prescience, true
economy, or a pretence to harmony and completeness. We
have yielded to the pressure first of one exigency and then
of another; and thus, whilst we have been working out an
incumbent reform in this direction, we have actually been
aggravating a threatening abuse in that.
At last, however, the special and supreme evil with which
we are called upon to grapple is distinctly recognised. That
evil is overcrowding. The measures which have been already
adopted to meet that evil we will now proceed briefly to sketch.
Sanitary science, in its remedial applications, may be said
to have gained no attention in this country until the visita
tion of the cholera in the year 1832. It is quite true that
men like John Howard, Dr. Chalmers, and some others, had
occasionally, and with much earnestness, warned the public
of the frightfully unhealthy conditions under which the poor
�10
OVERCROWDING J
in'large towns were obliged to live, but these individual voices
were unheeded; and even the ravages of pestilence excited
more morbid consternation than enlightened solicitude. In
1834, Mr. Sidney Smirke published his “ Suggestions for
the Architectural improvement of the Western part of Lon
don,” in which the claims of the poorer parts of the popula
tion to better household accommodation were warmly and
pathetically insisted upon. In 1837 a violent epidemic of
typhus fever broke out in the eastern districts of the metro
polis, and the Poor Law Commissioners appointed Dr.
Southwood Smith, the father of sanitary reform in this
country, to undertake an investigation into the general con
dition of that part of London, whilst similar investigations
in other parts of the metropolis were entrusted to Dr. Neil
Arnott and Dr. Kay (now Sir J. T. Kay Shuttleworth). The
results of these inquiries led to the formation, in 1839, of
the “ Health of Towns Association,” the object of which was
to devise and to execute remedial measures for the horrible
unhealthiness of the towns which had been brought to light.
In the following year, on the motion of Mr. Slaney, a com
mittee of the House of Commons was appointed to further
extend these inquiries. The Bishop of London, at the same
period, earnestly pressed the question on the consideration of
the House of Lords. In 1842, the Poor Law Board pub
lished the “ Deport of an Inquiry into the Sanitary Condition
of the Labouring Population,” which Lord Stanley has de
clared has been from that day to the present the text-book
of sanitary research.
The year, 1842, was a very important year in the history
of this question. Then was the Royal Commission appointed,
consisting, among others, of the Duke of Buccleugh and the
late Duke of Newcastle, for inquiring into the state of
the large towns and populous districts; and it may be here
mentioned that the final clause of the instructions given to
this Commission directed inquiry to be made “ as to how far
�THE EVIL AND ITS REMEDY.
11
the condition of the poorer classes of the people, and the
salubrity and safety of their dwellings may be promoted by
the amendment of the laws, regulations and usages.” That
Commission published two Reports, one in 1844, and another
in 1845 ", and those Reports distinctly trace to the condition of
the houses of the labouring classes the main cause of the
excessive sickness and mortality which had been disclosed in
the returns of the Registrar-General; and had further
distinctly traced to certain definite conditions in and about
those houses the constantly recurring epidemics which, at
that time, swept away one half of the children while they
were as yet in their childhood, destroyed by fever the heads
of families in the prime of life, and deprived the whole of
the labouring part of the population of more than one-third
of the natural term of existence. The Reports of this Com
mission, combined with the increased public interest which
had been excited in the subject, led to the adoption of several
important legislative measures, amongst which we may par
ticularly mention the Public Health Act of 1848, and the
Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Acts of the
same year—acts which have been subsequently amended—the
two latter in 1855, and again in 1860, and the former in
1858. In 1851, also, an Act was passed to enable parishes
or boroughs containing not fewer than .10,000 inhabitants,
either to build new houses or to adapt old ones, with a view
to provide better lodgings for the labouring classes; power was
also granted to raise money and to defray the attendant ex
penses out of the poor rates, such houses being made, as far
as possible, self-supporting. In the same year, 1851, an Act
was passed for regulating Common Lodging Houses—a Bill
the operations of which were, in 1853, made compulsory, and
by which certain important conditions of cleanliness, proper
ventilation, and the avoidance of overcrowding, as well as the
separation of the sexes, were enforced. Another very useful
measure, “ The Labourer’s Dwelling Act,” for promoting the
building of dwelling-houses for the labouring classes, and
�12
OVERCROWDING
providing for the registration of joint-stock companies formed
for that purpose, was passed in 1855.
The tendency of all these enactments was good, and the
principle on which they were based was a sound one. It is
clearly within the province of the legislature to enforce upon
landlords and tenants the observance of sanitary regulations.
Restraints are put upon, and responsibilities are attached to,
the sale of poisons; and the neglect of the fundamental laws
of sanitary science is nothing less than the diffusion of fatal
poison throughout the neighbourhood in which it obtains.
A dwelling-house which contained no provision for ventila
tion and for the carrying away of the refuse of its occupants,
might have inscribed over its portals, “ All die who enter
here; ” and, surely, if that condition of residence were made
known, the State would be bound to protect society against
the issue. We do not permit a butcher to sell putrid meat,
even though the purchaser should buy it with his eyes open.
The frankness of the bargain is no mitigation of its crimi
nality. Why, then, should a landlord be allowed to let his
houses in a state absolutely incompatible with the health of
the tenant ? The plea of liberty is no more available to bim
than to the chemist in relation to the sale of poisons, or to
the butcher in relation to the sale of -putrid meat. And, as
suicide is, in every well-organised society, punished as a
crime, there is really no reason why the gross neglect of all
the primary conditions of health should be left in the enjoy
ment of a mischievous impunity. As Mr. Roberts has shrewdly
and sensibly observed in one of the many useful pamphlets
he has published on this question, “ The class who have not
the power of protecting themselves, and who suffer so greatly
from the consequences of that inability, may justly expect .
at the hands of Government the same immunity in regard
to their dwellings which the public at large are entitled to
in regard to the falsification of weights, and the unwhole
some condition of staple articles of food.” And, indeed, this
argument from analogy may be. carried much further, and
�THE EVIL AND ITS REMEDY.
13
may be applied to the tenant as strongly and as severely
as it is applied to the landlord. The man who, from igno
rance, indifference, or insane disregard to the conditions of
physical health, settles down in a fever nest, has the same
claim to be protected against himself as the man who should
✓ obstinately refuse to take food, or, under some wild impulse,
should seize a razor with the intention of cutting his own
throat. In other words, just as the chemist who carelessly
dispenses poison is legally guilty of the consequences of his
act, even to the extent of manslaughter, so the landlord, who
permits his property to become a habitation of pestilence,
should be held legally guilty of the consequences; and as the
man who wickedly stands in the way of death is amenable to
the law for his folly, so should the occupant of a foul house
be held accountable for the great sin of which he is guilty.
Indeed, between the careless chemist and the neglectful land
lord on the one hand, or between the would-be suicide and the
dirty tenant on the other, there is this difference, all of which
is, in both cases, greatly in favour of the former. The evil
effects of poison administered in mistake, or swallowed with a
view to self-destruction, are confined to the individual; whilst
the man who, by his foul habits, creates impure air, breeds
diseases which are contagious. He scatters death and desola
tion broadcast. The mischief he does is public, not personal.
He is liable himself to become the victim of his own vices;
but in falling he does but augment the malignant force, and
enlarge the empire of the evil to which he has succumbed.
In enforcing the observance of certain broad, plain, and
essential principles of sanitary economy upon the community,
therefore, the Government has but discharged its most legiti
mate obligations, and fulfilled one of the very first purposes
of its existence. Government is an arrangement primarily
for the protection of the life of its subjects; and uncleanli
ness is just as murderous in its effects, and just as obviously
within the scope of social responsibility, as playing with vast
quantities of gunpowder, or the dispensation of unwholesome
food.
�14
OVERCROWDING
It is worthy of being remembered, however, that so far
Government has found itself unable to deal with one branch of
the evil. In all those Acts to which allusion has been made
there is no distinct provision against overcrowding. The
legislature has insisted on certain most manifest and most
important conditions of health—such, for example, as the
thorough drainage of the subsoil, the abolition of the cesspool,
and the substitution of the watercloset, involving what may
be described as the regular and complete drainage of the
house internally, and at least a minimum supply of fresh air
and pure water. In the Common Lodging Houses Act
(which, as has been said, is a compulsory measure, but which
has been in many large towns, through the indolence of the
authorities, grievously neglected), the evil of overcrowding
was recognised, and safeguards against it were introduced,
by the restriction put upon the numbers accommodated in the
establishment for the better regulation of which the Act was
passed. The great developments of the evil of overcrowding,
however, do not take place in the common lodging-houses.
They are to be found in private dwellings, into which Govern
ment inspectors do not penetrate. There they rage unchecked;
and all the other sanitary improvements which have been
introduced into the districts where such houses abound, are
rendered comparatively useless by the prevalence of the
special evil under consideration. The Medical Officer of
Health in the City of London has frankly admitted that this
is the case. He says—(l Without doubt, overcrowding is the
worst of all the unwholesome influences with which you have
to deal, and until it is corrected you will never be secure from
those outbursts of disease which appear to set your sanitary
measures at defiance.” In a report made by the Assistant
Commissioner of Police on the condition of single rooms
occupied by families in the metropolis, without the precincts
of the city authorities, the following emphatic declaration to
the same effect may be found :—“ It is evident that all the
evils which the Acts for regulating common lodging-houses
�THE EVIL AND ITS REMEDY.
15
were intended to remedy still exist, almost without abatement,
in single rooms occupied by families, single rooms so occupied
being exempt from the operation of the Act.” Ventilation
is absolutely necessary to healthful existence under all cir
cumstances ; but no structural provision for ventilation,
howsoever perfect, can counteract the contamination of the
air consequent on overcrowding. It must be admitted that
the ventilation of the private rooms where families live
huddled together is exceedingly inadequate to start with;
whilst, if it were faultless, it could involve no security of pure
air under existing conditions. It is calculated that not less
than 500 cubic feet of air are necessary to the due and
healthful sustenance of each individual, and that even that
supply requires to be thoroughly changed once in the hour.
The Lodging House Act requires an allowance of 700 cubic
feet for each inmate. Police constables lodged in a station
or section-house are allowed 450 cubic feet per person. Miss
Nightingale, in her Notes on the Sanitary Condition of
Hospitals, says—“ In solid built hospitals the progress of the
cases will betray any curtailment of space much below 1,500
cubic feet. In Paris 1,700, and in London 2,000, and even
2,500 cubic feet, are now thought advisable.” These esti
mates are, of course, exceptional, and, as a standard of what
is necessary in common life, would be deemed altogether
impracticable. But, at any rate, they serve to show the direct
and momentous relation there is between health and fresh
air; and, if that relation really exists at all, it is obvious that
thousands and thousands of the tenements occupied by the
families of the working classes of London are utterly unfit for
the uses to which they are devoted.
The worst phase of the subject, however, remains to be
stated. It might be argued on abstract political grounds,
that the Government is bound to prevent the lives of the
people from being sacrificed to the unhealthy conditions of
existence complained of; but, supposing that proposition is
granted, the question arises as to what Government is to do
�16
OVERCROWDING J
in the matter. The fact is, the evil is of such magnitude
that the legislature is totally incompetent to deal with it.
There are those who, influenced by a benign concern in the
physical welfare of the poor, would urge upon the legislature
the duty of preventing those great public improvements by
which the industrial orders are being gradually driven into
an ever-contracting area. With such we cannot agree. In
the general view of things, and in the long run, society will
gain more by the public improvements referred to than it
loses in the inconveniences, terrible though they be, incident
upon their adoption. Commercial enterprise is, in itself, a
good; and the commercial growth of the nation is a prodi
gious benefit, for which every wise and thoughtful man will
be grateful to Providence. And that growth has its con
ditions, which are just as evident and just as positive as are
the conditions of health. To attempt to curb the cotti-mcroial
and material progress of the country by legislative enact
ments, in the interest of the domestic and social convenience
or welfare of a particular class in the community, would be a
short-sighted policy indeed. But even if New Oxford Street
and Victoria Street, Westminster, had never been made; if the
Metropolitan Railway system had been arbitrarily restrained;
if the proposed new law-courts should be abandoned; the
great difficulty under consideration would not be met. In
deed, we may go so far as to say that if a temporary stop
could be put to the increase of the population, the worst
elements of the difficulty would still remain to be dealt with;
and those elements would be beyond the physical resources
and the political responsibility of the State. Let it be granted
that the legislature should institute a general inspection of
private dwelling-houses, and rigidly enforce therein the
clearly ascertained laws of physical health, still, what would
be the result ? Simply that thousands and thousands of the
population would be turned out into the common streets, and
left without any homes at all. Bad as is the existing state
of affairs, therefore, the arbitrary application to it of the
�THE EVIL AND ITS REMEDY.
17
merely primitive or disciplinary bearings of our sanitary laws
would be its aggravation rather than its cure.
The full weight of this argument cannot be too minutely
elucidated or too emphatically urged. We will suppose, for
a moment, that the sanitary policy of the Government is
made much more stringent .than it has been; and that Her
Majesty’s Commissioners are sent forth through the length
and breadth of the metropolis with distinct instructions—
first, to condemn to destruction all houses unfit to be the
habitations of men; and, secondly, to turn out of each house
all persons beyond the number which it will properly and
healthfully accommodate. The effect of the former course
would be enormous and appalling. In an admirable paper
read by Dr. Druitt, at the ordinary general meeting of the
Royal Institute of British Architects, February 20th, 1860, on
“ the Construction and Management of Human Habitations,
considered in relation to the Public Health,” we find the
following sentences, the perfect truthfulness of which is not
to be called in question
“ It appears absolutely necessary
to utterly remove the old, dilapidated, dark, squalid, damp
tenements which cover a large area of this metropolis. Prac
tically speaking they are perfectly incurable, and they serve
only as a nursery of an enfeebled and sensual population.
There are houses close by this from which disease is never
absent j the soil is sodden with damp and riddled with drains
and cesspools; the walls damp and saturated with the exhala
tions of years ; the wood, decayed and spongy, full of'vermin,
never looking clean, and, from its porosity, refusing to dry if
washed. Such houses are utterly hopeless ; and it is evident
that it would be a boon to humanity if the districts where
they prevail could be razed to the ground, the surface exca
vated, and then covered with dwellings which would admit
the light and air and encourage cleanliness.” Now, it so
happens that these vast masses of property, which a strict
sanitary commission would assuredly condemn, are packed
from floor to ceiling with human beings, one half of whom
2
�18
OVERCROWDING
at least would, by that same commission, be cleared out, even
if the property itself were tolerable. What good would this
be ? Before these harsh, though just, proceedings can be re
commended, provision must be made for the better accommo
dation of the population disturbed by them; and that is a
task which, on no sound principle of political economy,
Government should be permitted to undertake. The prac
tical conclusion is, therefore, that the legislature, in the
measures enumerated above, has done very nearly all that it
can under existing circumstances attempt. Let us now see
what voluntary philanthropy and free commercial enterprise
have done towards meeting this stupendous and matchless
evil of overcrowding.
Passing by the labours of the “ Health of Towns Associa
tion,” and the“ Metropolitan Sanitary Association,” as being,
however important and beneficial in themselves, not strictly
within the scope of the present publication, we may pay some
what close attention to the efforts of two societies the useful
ness of which must not be measured by the pecuniary success
which has attended some of their operations. Rather, per
haps, might it be said that as pioneers their experience is
likely to be of much benefit to associations which have since
been formed. By the experiments which they have made,
and the results which have attended them, we have at last
made good progress towards the discovery. of what are the
only conditions on which this great social and sanitary re
form can be carried out.
The “ Metropolitan Association for Improving the Dwellings
•of the Industrious Classes ” was formed in 1842; and two
years later “ The Society for Improving the Condition of the
Labouring Classes,” with a more comprehensive programme,
set itself to pretty much .the same sort of practical work. Por
the present we will trace the operations of the former of these
societies. The exact nature of the objects which it was esta
blished to promote, and of the means it adopted for the ac
complishment of those objects, may, perhaps, be best gathered
�THE EVIL AND ITS REMEDY.
19
from the first report of the directors to the shareholders, read
at the meeting held at the London Tavern, on the 6th of
March, 1846—no less than four years having been spent in
surmounting preliminary difficulties, and bringing the scat
tered and floating elements of the enterprise into cohesion,
consistency, and working order. That report is as follows :—
The attention, of the public and legislature has been lately much
directed to the sanitary condition of large towns and populous
districts. Investigations into this subject have been made, partly
by individuals, and partly by commissioners appointed under the
Crown; and the result of their labours is the collection of a body
of evidence, perhaps unequalled in extent and value, for the guid
ance alike of legislation and of private exertion.
One of the main subjects of all these inquiries is the condition of
the dwellings occupied by the poorer classes; and the evidence
establishes two facts with regard to these dwellings; first, that
they are in general extremely wretched, many of them wholly unfit
for the habitation of human beings j and, secondly, that the tenants
of these miserable houses pay an exorbitant rent foi‘ them.
The founders of this association, impressed by the evidence ad
duced of the deplorable physical and moral evils directly traceable
to these wretched dwellings, conceived the plan of attempting some
improvement in the general construction of the poor man’s house,
and some addition to its convenience and comfort. They did not,
indeed, imagine that it would be possible for any private body of
men to provide suitable habitations for all the poor, even of the
metropolis ; but they thought that it might be practicable, by the
combination of capital, science, and skill, to erect more healthy
and more convenient houses for the labourer and artizan ; and to
offer such improved dwellings to these and similar classes, at no
higher rent than they pay for the inferior and unhealthy houses
which they at present occupy.
It appeared, further, to the association, that if it were practicable
to present some examples of houses well built, well drained, and
well supplied with air, water, and light, and to -offer these dwellings
at no greater charge than is at present demanded and obtained for
houses in which no provision whatever is made, or even attempted,
for the supply of any one of these essential requisites of health, clean
liness, and comfort, a public service would be rendered beyond the
mere erection of so many better constructed houses; that the in
fluence of this example could scarcely fail to be beneficial; that,
especially, it might help to rendei’ it no longer easy for the land
lord to obtain an amount of rent for houses of the latter description
which ought to suffice for those of the former; and that it might
�20
OVERCROWDING ;
thus indirectly tend to raise the general standard of accommodation
and comfort required in all houses of this class.
It was no part of the plan of the association to attempt to assist
the poor by offering them any gift, or doing anything for them in
the shape of charity; experience having shown that while the means
afforded by charity for the removal of extensive and permanent
evils are always inadequate, because always too limited and too
transient, her gifts in such cases do not really benefit the recipients;
but, on the contrary, have a tendency to injure and corrupt them,
by lessening their self-reliance and destroying their self-respect.
The proposal of the association was, therefore, that the industrious
man should pay the full value for his house ; but that for the sum
he pays he should possess a salubrious and commodious dwelling,
instead of one in which cleanliness and comfort can find no place ;
in which he can neither maintain his own strength, nor bring up
his family in health ; but must constantly spend a large portion of
his hard-earned wages in the relief of sickness.
The plan proposed by the association for the accomplishment of
their object was to raise the necessary capital by shares, and to ob
tain a charter from the Crown, limiting the liability of the share
holder to the amount of his individual subscription. On submitting
their object and plan to the Government, Sir Robert Peel and Lord
Lincoln, after some consideration, expressed their entire approba
tion of it, thought it likely to accomplish much good, and advised
the granting of the charter by the Crown.
It was stated to the Government that, while on the one hand
the essential principle of the association is that of self-support, and
that the founders of it must regard their scheme as a failure, if it
does not return a fair profit on the capital employed, yet that, on
the other hand, it was not their design to set on foot a money
getting speculation ; that their object, though not charitable in the
common acceptation of the term, was philanthropic and national,
and that it was their desire that the profits, after the payment of a
moderate rate of interest, instead of going to increase the amount
of the dividend, should be applied to the extension of the plan.
The Government approving of this principle, the main provisions
of the charter, now in possession of the association, have been
framed in accordance with it, and are as follows : —
The limitation of the liability of the shareholdei’ to the
amount of his individual subscription.
Dividend not to exceed £5 per cent, per annum.
£25,000 capital to be subscribed before commencing works,
and £10 per cent, thereon paid up.
The capital may be increased with consent of two-third
parts in number and value of the shareholders and sanction of
the Board of Trade.
The charter bears date the 16th October, 1845
�THE EVIL AND ITS REMEDY.
21
Now, we have here a most enlightened appreciation of the
moral and financial grounds on which alone an enterprise of
this kind can be legitimately and healthily conducted. The
utter futility of attempting to render charitable aid to a com
munity like that of the working orders of the metropolis in
the matter of their household accommodation, is just as obvious
now as it was then; and all the experience which has been
gained on the subject confirms the principle that this mighty
reform must be brought within the grasp and under the
control of recognised commercial laws before it will have
anything like a chance of receiving that general support from
the trade and the public, without which it must remain little
better than an amiable chimera or a benevolent dream.
The perusal of the successive reports of the “ Metropolitan
Association,” read in the light of this incontrovertible propo
sition, has, perhaps, rather a discouraging effect. In every
respect but the financial the society seems to have worked
prosperously enough. The sanitary results were uniformly
splendid. The precise advantages aimed at were obtained
with a uniformity absolutely startling. The association
observed the following sanitary conditions with great strict
ness in all its building operations :—
1. The thorough drainage of the subsoiPof the site.
2. The free admission of air and light to every inhabited
room.
3. The abolition of the cesspool, and the substitution of the
water-closet, involving complete house-drainage.
4. An abundant supply of water; and,
5. Means for the immediate removal, by means of dust
shafts, of all solid house refuse not capable of suspension in
water, or of being carried off by water.*
Now, the first experiment made by the Metropolitan Asso
ciation was in the Metropolitan Buildings, Old St. Pancras
Road, which consist of 110 tenements, 20 of which have two
* See “Results of Sanitary Improvement,” by Southwood Smith, M.D.
Knight and J. Cassell, 1853.
C.
�22
OVERCROWDING J
rooms each, and 90 three rooms, and every one of which has
attached to it a scullery, provided with a sink, a supply of
water at high pressure at the rate of forty gallons per day; a
dust-shaft, accessible from the scullery, and a separate watercloset. Other sets of buildings have been erected, or appro
priated by the society; as, in Albert Street, Mile End New
Town, and Pelham Street, and Pleasant Row, Mile End.
Branch associations have been formed in various provincial
towns, and lodging-houses and dormitories established. Into
all the details of these experiments, however, it is not neces
sary that we should here enter. At present, we wish simply
to present the reader with the sanitary results of the enter
prise, as tested more particularly by the “Metropolitan
Buildings ; ” and in doing so, we find it impossible to render
the statement either more brief, lucid, or impressive than as
it appears in the report of Southwood Smith already referred
to. We, therefore, append his analysis just as it stands :—
The results of the experiment with reference to its great object,
the protection of health and the diminution of preventible sickness
and mortality, are now to be stated.
In the year 1850, the comparative mortality of the residents in
the Metropolitan Buildings, both adults and infants, was so small,
that it was generally concluded that the result was accidental.
In the year 1851, this comparative low rate of mortality con
tinued, though the actual mortality was highei' than in the former
year.
In the subsequent year the mortality again became nearly the
same as in 1850.
The following are the exact results :—
In 1850, the total population in the Metropolitan Buildings, Old
Pancras Road, was 560, and the deaths were 7, being at the rate
of 12 and a half in 1,000 of the living.
In 1851, the total population was 600, and the deaths were 9,
being at the rate of 15 in the 1,000.
In 1852, the total population was 680, and the deaths were 9,
being at the rate of 13 and a fraction in the 1,000. The average
mortality of the three years in tfcese buildings has been 13-6 per
1,000.
But taking together the whole of the establishments of the
association, which had now come into full occupancy, the total
�THE EVIL AND ITS REMEDY.
23
population for the year ending March, 1853, amounted to 1,343.
Out of this number there were, during that year, 10 deaths, being
at the rate of 7 and a fraction iu the 1,000.
If this mortality is compared with the mortality of the metro
polis generally, and with the mortality of one of its worst districts,
the following results are obtained :—
The deaths in the whole of the metropolis, during the same
year (1852), reached the proportion of 22 and a fraction in the
1,000 ; consequently, the total mortality in London generally,
taking together all classes, rich and poor, was proportionally more
than three times greater than the mortality in these establishments.
On a comparison of the infant mortality in these dwellings with
that of the metropolis generally, the results present a still more
striking contrast. Of the total population in the establishments of
the association (1,343), 490 were children under ten years of age.
Among these there occurred 5 deaths, being in the proportion of
10 in the 1,000. In the same year the infant mortality in the
whole of London reached the rate of 46 in the 1,000 ; consequently,
the infant mortality in the establishments of the association has
been little more than one-fifth of that in London generally.
This low rate of mortality, the comparative absence of sickness,
and the general state of well-being implied in the two former con
ditions, will appear the more remarkable when compared with the
mortality in one of the worst districts of the metropolis.
In the Notting Hill division of Kensington Parish, there is a
place called the “Potteries,” which is wholly destitute of the
sanitary provisions secured to the improved dwellings. Until
recently it had no drainage, and even now there is little that is
effectual. It has no supply of water, no means for the removal of
filth, and the houses are dirty, damp, and miserable beyond
description or belief.
According to the Census of 1851, the population of the Potteries
was 1,263 ; and the number of children at that time living, under
ten years of age, was 384. As the population of this place is not
migratory, but quite stationary, it may be assumed to be pretty
much the same in 1853 as it was in 1851. At all events, it may
be considered as sufficiently so, to afford the means of comparing
its mortality for that year with the mortality of the Metropolitan
Buildings.
From the returns of the Registrar-General, it appears that during
the year ending the 31st March, 1853, the total deaths in the
Potteries, from all causes, amounted to 51. In the Metropolitan
Buildings the deaths were 10 ; so that with a smaller population
(80 less), the deaths were 41 in excess. In the Potteries the deaths
from all causes, under ten years of age, were 42 ; in the Metro
politan Buildings they were 5, being an excess of infant mortality
�24
OVERCROWDING ;
in the Potteries of 37. In the Potteries, the proportion of deaths
per cent, to the population was 4-03, or 40 in the 1,000 ; in the
Metropolitan Buildings it was -74, or 7 in the 1,000, being an
excess in the Potteries of 33 in the 1,000. In the Potteries, the
proportion of deaths per cent., under ten years of age to the popu
lation under ten years of age, was 10’9, or 109 in the 1,000 ; in
the Metropolitan Buildings it was 1’0, or 10 in the 1,000, being an
excess in the Potteries of 99 in the l,(W)0. In the Potteries the
proportion per cent, of deaths from zymotic diseases, under ten
years of age, to the population, was 5'2, or 52 in the 1,000 ; in
the Metropolitan Buildings it was '82, or 8 in the 1,000, being an
excess in the Potteries of 44 in the 1,000.
If the deaths in the whole of the metropolis had been at the
same rate as in the Potteries, there would have died in London, in
that year, 94,950 persons, whereas the actual deaths were 54,213 ;
that is, there would have been a loss of upwards of 40,000 lives ;
and if the whole of the metropolis had been as healthy as the
Metropolitan Buildings, Old Pancras Hoad, on an average of the
three years, there would have been an annual saving of about
23,000 lives.
Nothing could possibly be more conclusive or more encou
raging than this, proving, as it does, that in improving the
dwelling-house accommodation of the people, we are really
not only improving their physical health but prolonging their
lives.
The experience of the Society for improving the Condition
of the Labouring Classes is equally stimulating. As we have
said, this society commenced its operations in 1844; and
besides encouraging the establishment by the working classes
of field gardens, and the cultivation of small allotments of
land, it has also contributed largely to the movement to the
claims of which this pamphlet is dedicated. The beneficial
effect of its labours on the life and health of its constituents
has been remarkable. We may find room for just one ex
ample, for which we are again indebted to Dr. Southwood
Smith. It is that afforded by the history of Lambeth
Square, which, before the society in question took it in hand,
was just as unhealthy as those Kensington Potteries to which
reference has before been made : —
Lambeth Square is situated in the Waterloo Hoad district of the
�THE EVIL AND ITS REMEDY.
25
parish of Lambeth. Tt consists of 37 eight-roomed houses which
let at about £28 a-year, and are chiefly occupied by the foremen
of large establishments, and the more skilled and highly-paid class
of artizans. In outward appearance, and in their general aspect
within, these houses are very superior to the ordinary abodes of
the same class in other parts of the metropolis, and present no
obvious cause of peculiar unhealthiness.
According to the last census this square contains a population
of 434 souls. Among this number on a house-to-house examina
tion, it was found that in one year (1851) there had occurred 80
attacks of zymotic* and other diseases, and 24 deaths ; that is,
nearly one person in every five had been laid up with sickness,
which had proved fatal in the proportion of between 50 and 60 in
1,000.
When built about twenty years ago these houses had been fitted
up with untrapped closets, communicating with flat-bottomed brick
drains, then in universal use. A number of the drains passed
directly under the houses ; they were wholly unprovided with any
regular water supply for cleansing ; consequently, instead of carry
ing away the ordure, they retained it within the houses; and the
emanations arising from the stagnant mass of putrefying matter,
were carried back into the houses, through the open closets, in a
proportion increasing with the obstruction in the drains.
At the beginning of 1852, a new system of drainage was ap
plied to the whole square. Water-closets were substituted for
cesspools, and stoneware pipes for brick drains, and the apparatus
was provided with an adequate supply of water.
By these improvements the houses were placed in the same
sanitary condition essentially as the society’s dwellings. The
result on the health of the inhabitants was strikingly similar,
On a re-examination of this property in November of the present
year (1853) it was found that the mortality had been reduced
from 55 in 1,000, to 13 in 1,000.
This point, however, is now universally conceded; and the
question which remains for solution is simply how the con
ditions of sanitary improvement may be rendered available to
the great mass of the community. And relative to that
question, the experience of the two associations referred to has
* From a Greek word, signifying to ferment. The term is employed meta
phorically, as if this class of diseases were produced and propagated by a kind
of fermentation. In these pages it is used merely for the sake of shortness to
include the entire class of preventible diseases.
�26
OVERCROWDING
furnished valuable information, by the light of which their
successors will doubtless attain more satisfactory results.
Let us deal with the “ Metropolitan Association” first. Some
circumstances which tend to explain the small rate of profit
realised by this association should not in fairness be forgotten.
The preliminary expenses were heavy; the Royal Charter
having been obtained at an outlay of not less than £1,430Moreover, the plan of some of the buildings, more especially
in the adoption of internal staircases, instead of external gal
leries, for giving access to the various tenements, by which
they are liable to house-duty, is a disadvantage to which no
future experiments are likely to be exposed. Then, the
society’s capital is invested in undertakings of various kinds,
some of which are much less remunerative than others; and
thus the average dividend is greatly reduced. In nineteen
years—i.e. from 1846 to 1865—the “ Metropolitan Associa
tion for Improving the Dwellings of the Industrious Classes”
expended close upon £92,000 on ten ranges of buildings, in
which accommodation was provided for 420 families and 362
single men. On new buildings, giving accommodation to 371
families, the expenditure was £68,947. Is. 5d.
On this
outlay, a net return was in 1865 obtained, of £3,507.15s. 4d.;
being at the rate of upwards of 5 per cent. On an expenditure
of £5,471.18s. 7d. on old houses, the net return the same year
was £277. 11s. lid., or at the rate of upwards of 5 per cent.
The returns from the lodging-houses and dormitories for single
men were not so satisfactory, amounting only in the gross
to Ilf per cent., from which the expenses of management
must be deducted before the balance available for dividend
can be calculated. The profits from the Dwellings for Families having therefore to be applied to the payment of dividend
on unproductive capital amounting to £18,398. 11s. 5d.,
absorbed by preliminary expenses and Single Men’s Dwellings,
the dividend for the year 1864-5, was at the rate of only 3|
per cent, upon the whole of the capital.
It is curious that whilst the sanitary results attained by
the “ Society for Improving the Condition of the Labouring
�THE EVIL AND ITS REMEDY.
27
Classes ” should have been so perfectly analogous to those
attained by the “ Metropolitan Association,” a corresponding
analogy in the financial results of the operations of the two
societies should be apparent. After an experiment of eight
years, the Labourer’s Friend Society, on a total expenditure
of £35,143. 13s. 3d., in 1852, realised a net return of
£1,385. 3s. 4d., being at the rate of about 4 per cent.
From the twentieth report of the society presented at the
annual meeting held at Willis’s Booms on the 28th of June,
1864, under the presidency of the indefatigable chairman of
the committee, the Earl of Shaftesbury, K.Gr., we gather that
the gross profits realised on the nine establishments worked
by the society, costing a total sum of £37,485. 8s., were
£1,775. 3s. 4|d., or about 4| per cent., from which sum the
working expenses of the society must be deducted. The
accounts of this society, however, are not presented in a
very distinct manner to the public; and it is possible that
our estimate of profit may be not quite accurate. Be that
as it may, we believe it will be found to be rather above
than below the mark; and the latest absolute results cannot
be greatly in excess of those realised by the “ Metropolitan
Association.”
What these two societies are actually doing towards minis
tering to the home comforts of the working classes of London
may be very briefly set forth. The “ Metropolitan Associa
tion ” has, under its management, ten establishments, as
follows :—Albert Street, affording accommodation for sixty
families; Albert Cottages, accommodating thirty-three
families; Albion Buildings, accommodating twenty-four
families ; Ingestre Buildings, accommodating sixty families;
Nelson Square, providing homes for 110 families; Pancras
Square, containing 110 tenements; Pleasant Bow, accommo
dating nine families; Queen’s Place, accommodating ten
families; Albert Chambers, offering dormitory accommoda
tion for 234 single men; and Soho Chambers, offering
similar accommodation for 128 single men. Here, there is
household accommodation, healthy, comfortable, decent, and
�28
OVERCROWDING J
distinctly within the means of the industrious and provident
mechanic, for 420 families ; and lodging accommodation for
362 single men. The business, considered as a business, is an
immense one; and the amount of physical convenience,
domestic comfort, and moral advantage represented by it is
hardly calculable. The Society for Improving the Condition
of the Labouring Classes have now eight establishments,
besides a warehouse in Portpool Lane, the resources of which
are as follows:—Hatton Garden, lodgings for fifty-four
single men; Charles Street, Drury Lane, lodgings for eightytwo single men ; George Street, St. Giles’s, lodgings for 104
single men; Portpool Lane, household accommodation for
twenty families, and lodgings for sixty-four single women;
Streatham Street, household accommodation for fifty-four
families; Wild Court, single room accommodation for 106
families; Tyndall’s Buildings, single room accommodation for
eighty-seven families, and lodgings for forty single men ; and
Clark’s Buildings, Bloomsbury, single room accommodation
for eighty-two families. Here there is household accommoda
tion for seventy-four families; single room accommodation
for 275 families, and lodgings for 280 single men, and for
sixty-four single women. On the whole, the order of persons
accommodated is somewhat inferior to that for which the
“Metropolitan Association” makes provision; but the
attention to cleanliness and ventilation is not less strict, and
the sanitary results are, as we have seen, equally gratifying.
It would not be right, in this survey—necessarily summary
in its character—to pass over, without observation, the efforts
of the St. James’s Sanitary Association, presided over by the
Bishop of Lincoln; the Marylebone Association; the Lambeth
Association, which has derived great advantage from the co
operation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, in which H.B.H.
the Prince of Wales is the holder of a considerable number of
shares, and which provides accommodation for thirty-two
families; the “ Strand Buildings Company,” of which Viscount
Ingestre is chairman, which accommodates twenty-five
families, in Eagle Court, opposite Somerset House, and pays
�THE EVIL AND ITS REMEDY.
29
a dividend at the rate of 4| per cent., all having the same
object in view. Nor must the labours of certain private
individuals be forgotten. In Bethnal Green, Miss Burdett
Coutts, at an expenditure of nearly <£10,000, entirely defrayed
by herself, has had erected a pile of buildings 172 feet in
length, and four storeys high, for the accommodation of fiftytwo families. W. E. Hilliard, Esq., of Gray’s Inn, has
rebuilt an entire street near the Shadwell Station, on the
Blackwall Bailway, taking as his model the late Prince
Consort’s Exhibition Cottages (which we reserve for special
consideration shortly). His plan comprises accommodation
for 112 families in blocks of four tenements each, each family
having three rooms, together with wash-house, coal-house,
water-closet, &c. The total cost of this experiment was
£13,643 ; and we have been informed that they pay a profit
of close upon 7 per cent, per annum. Mr. John Newson,
again, has constructed five piles of family dwellings on his own
account, situate respectively in Grosvenor Mews ; Bull Head
Court, Snow Hill; Bull Inn Chambers, Holborn; and
Grosvenor Market. In these dwellings he provides superior
domestic accommodation for 125 families, at an outlay of
£13,200; the net return upon which he estimates at 5^ per
cent. The lodging-house established at Camden Town, in
1854, by Messrs. Pickford and Co., by which sixty men are
accommodated, is a well-managed institution, which works
not unprofitably.
The late Prince Consort’s model dwellings for the working
classes may be now taken into consideration. We have
slightly neglected the chronology of the movement which we
have endeavoured to trace in not having noticed them earlier;
but our reasons for the deviation will be obvious when the
special architectural features it will be our duty to point out
come up for consideration. His Royal Highness always
manifested the deepest and most earnest interest in this
subject, and he himself informed the world “ his feelings were
warmly shared by Her Majesty the Queen.”
The Commissioners for the Great Exhibition held in Hyde
�30
OVERCROWDING ;
Park in J 851, in answer to an application made to them,
decided “ that a model lodging-house does not come within
the design of the Exhibition.” Thereupon the applicants
addressed a memorial to the Priu.ce Consort, who expressed
the most lively interest in the subject, and further indicated
his desire that the contemplated houses should be erected on
his own account. At a great sacrifice and personal trouble,
His Royal Highness secured the consent of four Grovern m on t
departments to the erection of the houses in the cavalry
barrack-yard, opposite to the Exhibition. The buildings were
raised, and they were visited and inspected by upwards of
250,000 persons. In their general arrangement the buildings
were adapted for the occupation of four families of the class
of manufacturing and mechanical operatives. They consist of
two floors with four dwellings on each floor. Each tenement
consists of three bed-rooms, living-room, lobby, scullery
water-closet, sink, dust-bin, &c.
These dwellings,* raised under the immediate care of
the Prince Consort, constitute the model of the larger number
of blocks which have been since erected. The superlative
advantages which they present may be easily enumerated,
and will be appreciated at a glance. The most prominent
peculiarity of the design is the receding and protected
central open staircase, communicating with the external
gallery. By this staircase, in conjunction with the fire-proof
floors and the flat roof, two or three very important results
are secured. In the first place, a great security in case of
fire is provided. Secondly, the perfect independence of each
tenant is secured, free even from the dull monotony and
comparative publicity of the common corridor. Then, lastly,
by virtue of this independence of each dwelling, the building
becomes exempt from the house duty.
The “Albert Cottages,” as they were called, consisted of
four tenements, two on each floor ; but it was one special
aim of His Royal Highness to have them constructed on
such a plan as would admit of the addition of a third or a
* See frontispiece.
�THE EVIL AND ITS REMEDY.
31
fourth storey, without any other alteration than the requisite in
crease in the strength of the walls. Each tenement contained
—first, a living-room, having a superficial area of about 150
feet; secondly, a scullery, fitted up with a sink, a coal-bin, a
plate rack, a meat safe, and a dust shaft; thirdly, three
sleeping apartments, each with separate access, and window
into the open air, and two with a fireplace and, finally,
a water-closet, fitted up with a Staffordshire glazed basin, and
supplied with water from a' slate cistern on the roof. The
ordinary cost of a tenement of this character would be, it was
estimated by His Royal Highness, from £110 to £120, and
if let for 4s. a-week, after deducting ground-rent and taxes,
a net return upon the outlay of about 7 per cent, would be
realised. In this estimate, however, it must be borne in mind,
that no deductions are allowed for architect’s fees, working
expenses, or wear and tear—elements in the calculation, the
oversight of which must be held to modify the strictly com
mercial value of the rate of profit specified.
Notwithstanding this, however, it is due to the fame
of this great and good Prince to record the fact that, in the
history of the most beneficent movement of modern times,
he provided a sound and practical model of the work which
was required to be done; and, by his success, and the popular
attention which he was instrumental in drawing to the
subject, he raised it above the category of mere dreamy
speculations or spasmodic and eccentric philanthropies, and
invested it at once with the attraction of a practicable, and
the authority of an incumbent social reform.
The next stage in the progress of the cause thus hallowed
and brought within purely utilitarian conditions, is one which
may be fairly called a development of the idea and the plan
of the Exhibition Model Houses; we refer to Langbourn
Buildings, erected by Mr. Aiderman Waterlow. In entering
upon his large and costly experiment, Mr. Waterlow had
a very distinct perception of the supreme requirements
of the enterprise; and it was his special aim to afford to
Capitalists, as well as to philanthropic people, a demonstration
�32
OVERCROWDING ;
of the possibility of building healthy houses, containing
adequate accommodation, for the working classes on conditions
that would be commercially remunerative. Prince Albert’s
own words embodied that phase of the problem on the mas
tery of which the entire solution depended :—“ Unless we
can get 7 or 8 per cent., we shall not succeed in inducing
builders to invest their capital in such houses.” Mr. Waterlow, moreover, brought to the consideration of the subject in
its general aspects, rather the common sense of a man of the
world, than the pedantic and really morbid views into which
professional philanthropy is too apt to degenerate. By this
we mean that he saw the wisdom of allowing to the class for
whom he was about to provide as much credit for good taste
and social sensitiveness as possible. He, therefore, aimed to
give each dwelling the highest attainable individuality of
character; he resolved to appeal, in the fullest way open to him,
to the self-respect of his tenants ; he, therefore, avoided all
assumption of patronage; he made no pretence, either in the
style of the buildings themselves, or in the circumstances of
their erection, of being a dispenser of charity; and he
judiciously resolved to make no sacrifice of internal comfort
and decency for the sake of external ornament.
A patient and anxious consideration of the whole subject
led to the conclusion that the following were among the
most important points which required consideration :—
I. A ground plan easily adaptable to any plot of ground,
capable of repetition to any extent, and presenting in the
elevation a pleasing and attractive appearance.
II. Suites of rooms at different rents so planned as to secure
the greatest economy of space, materials, and labour, in
the erection of the building, and at the same time pro
vide for the exclusive use of each family, within the
external door of the lettings, every essential requisite of
domestic convenience.
III. The construction of a flat roof capable of being used as a
drying and recreation ground, so as to leave as much
space as possible available for building.
IV. Planning the positions of the doors, windows, and fire
places, with reference to a suitable arrangement of the
�THE EVIL AND ITS REMEDY.
33
furniture of the apartments, and the placing of proper
fireplaces, cupboards, shelves, &c., in every room.
V. An efficient system of drainage and ventilation.
VI. Making the joinery as near as possible to an uniform size
and pattern, so that machinery might be brought to bear
in economizing its manufacture to a considerable extent.
VII. The discovery and adaptation of a new material com
bining the properties of strength and durability, adapt
ability, attractiveness of appearance, and cheapness, in an
eminent degree.
VIII. The combination of these advantages in buildings
which, when let at fair rentals, would produce a good
return on the outlay incurred in their erection.
IX. The selection of a locality where the ground rent would
not be excessive, although the tenants would be suffi
ciently near their work to enable them to take their
meals at home.
Mr. Waterlow was able, to an extent on which he is en
titled. to earnest congratulations, to carry out most of these
objects in the buildings which are so intimately associated
with his name. He secured a lease for ninety-nine years of
a plot of ground, situate in the most populous part of Fins
bury. To make way for the noble structure which he has
erected on this ground, he had to clear away a number of the
most wretched habitations imaginable. In his selection of a
site, he was thus fortunate; for he not only substituted
healthy and decent dwellings for hovels which were scarcely
fit for the accommodation of pigs, but he did this in a crowded
neighbourhood, and in close proximity to the scenes of the
labour of those who might be expected to become his tenants.
The locality is within a quarter-of-an-hour’s walk of the Bank
of England. It has another great advantage which should
not be passed over. The property of which it forms a part
will very shortly revert to Her Majesty’s Ecclesiastical
Commissioners, on the expiration of a long lease. The
estate is to a great extent covered with houses of the most
miserable character; and the great success of the experi
ment will, it is to be hoped, encourage the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners, on receiving the estate, to stipulate or provide
3
�34
OVERCROWDING ;
for an extensive improvement of the dwellings for the in
dustrial classes on a plan similar to that which has answered
so well. Every tenement which Mr. Waterlow has built is
complete in itself. Nothing is for the common use of the
inhabitants but staircase, balcony, and roof. Every domestic
office and • convenience is provided for each household sepa
rately. At a rent of 5s. or 6s. 6d. per week, therefore, a
complete and comfortable, as well as a thoroughly salubrious
home may be here obtained.
The enumeration of the “ important points ” held in view
which we have already quoted, as well as the following
description of the plan of the buildings and the nature of the
structure and general arrangements, are transferred from
the pages of an interesting little pamphlet by Mr. J.
Aldous Mays, which was written when the first block
of “Langbourn Buildings” was opened to public inspection
and criticism. This pamphlet is now out of print. After
saying that the buildings were designed and erected by
Mr. Matthew Allen, of Tabernacle Walk, Finsbury, the
writer proceeds:—“ The general plan* of a single block may
be described as a parallelogram, having a frontage of 56 feet
by a depth of 44 feet, divided into four sections by a party
wall in the centre and the two passages (EE) in the middle
of each wing. The two centre sections are set back about
3 feet from the line of frontage, for the purpose of giving
space for a balcony of that width on each of the upper floors.
Each section comprises one suite of rooms, to which access
is obtained from the passages (EE) leading (on all the upper
floors) direct from the balcony (G)- The balconies are
reached by a fireproof staircase having a semi-elliptical
form, the entrances to which are shown on the elevation by
the two doorways in the centre of the building. This stair
case is continued to and gives access to the roof. The larger
lettings, consisting of three rooms and a washhouse, occupy
the end sections of the building. E 0 is the entrance door,
B is a living-room provided with a range having an oven and
See Plates 2 and 3.
�THE EVIL AND ITS REMEDY.
35
boiler. Leading out of the living room is the washhouse or
scullery (ft) which contains in every case what may be called
the accessories of the dwelling,—water cistern, sink, a small
fireplace, washing copper, dust shoot, water-closet, &c. It is
expected that the fireplace in the washhouse will conduce
greatly to the comfort of the living room in the summer time,
c is a comfortable bedroom having a fireplace; a capacious
cupboard (H) is arranged in the party wall between this
room and the entrance lobby, and over the latter is a useful
receptacle for the stowage of bulky objects. Passing out
towards the front parlour ([)), is a series of shelves having
an artificial stone bottom and back, intended by its proximity
to the living room to serve as a cupboard for provisions, &c.
[J is a spacious handsome parlour having two windows ; the
fireplace is placed a little out of the centre of the room, so as
to leave a convenient space in which to put an additional bed
in cases where this would be required to be used as a bed
room. On the other side of the fireplace is a sideboard and
cupboard.
“ The centre sections, comprising the smaller lettings,
consist of two rooms and a washhouse, &c. The washhouse
A and the living room B are exactly similar to those in the
larger letting. The bedroom C can be conveniently con
verted into a parlour by arranging a set of curtains across
the recess at the back of the room, and thus dividing the part
where the bed would be placed from the rest of the apart
ment. WWW represent the windows. The plan is the
same on each side of the party walls, and every floor or flat is
a repetition of the other. Close to the ceilings of all the
rooms a ventilator is placed which communicates with air
shafts running through the centres of the chimney stacks.
The air is thus constantly rarified, and a system of natural
ventilation is produced. Besides this, it will be seen that by
setting open the windows a current of external air can be at
once passed through every room in the direction of the dotted
lines. The lower panes of the windows are filled in with
�36
OVERCROWDING
ornamental ground glass, so that no window blinds are neces
sary. The windows are constructed on a somewhat novel
principle, being made to open outwards like ordinary French
casements, but the two lower panes are not made to open, so
that the danger of children falling out, as well as the disad
vantages of the ordinary window sashes, are avoided. All
the rooms are 8ft. 9in. in height. The other dimensions are
figured on the plan, and need not be repeated here. Drain
age is effected by means of 4-in. stoneware pipes passing
frGm the top of the building, down the corners of the wash
houses, directly to the common sewer. The dust shaft carries
the dust to covered receptacles at the base of the building,
and each shoot is provided with an iron cover so as to prevent
the return of dust and effluvia. The dust shafts are also con
tinued to the top of the building, and act as ventilators to
the dust bins. The greater part of the rooms, especially the
living rooms, have scarcely any external walls, so that they
will be always warm and dry. All the rooms are plastered and
papered, and the washhouses are plastered and coloured. Every
tenant has his apartments completely to himself, and nothing
is used in common except the roof as a drying and recreation
ground. By extending the area of the building three or four
feet in every direction the size of the rooms could be easily in
creased, and suites of rooms obtained well adapted to the
requirements of any class of the community. With the view
of judging of the happy effect that a row of these buildings
would produce, the visitor is requested to stand a hundred
yards away from the building and imagine the pleasing
appearance of a street having several buildings like this on
each side of the way. The party walls on the roofs might
be dispensed with in cases where several blocks are built
side by side, and the roofs thus connected together would
form a most agreeable private promenade. The contrast
that these buildings present to the wretched tenements by
which they are surrounded is in every way encouraging.
The lofty elevation at the front, with its spacious doorways
�THE EVIL AND ITS REMEDY.
37
and. balconies, and ornamental railings, and the wide, bold
windows and arches, with their ornamental mouldings and
•sills, soon to be filled with flowers, have an imposing effect,
and compare most favourably with the aspect of the low
dirty hovels which flank the building on either side. At
the back, too, similar improvements are at once apparent.
In the place of the ordinary yard, just big enough to enclose
within its dilapidated brick walls the open water butt, beside
the reeking dust bin and privy, the eye here rests upon a
space enclosed from the street at the back by neat iron rails,
and. laid out in flower-beds and gravel paths. In the spaces
between the washhouses on each of the upper floors are
arranged landings or platforms, on which the furniture of
the occupants is landed by means of a rope, fall and pulley,
working from a beam placed across the space at the top.
This platform also serves the purpose of hiding the view of
the living rooms from the observation of persons in any of
the upper rooms; it will doubtless be used also for floricultural purposes by most of the tenants.”
It may be mentioned that the Earl of Shaftesbury visited
Langbourn Buildings shortly before they were opened, and
declared that a more cheerful and attractive home had been
there provided at a cost of <£110, than either of the Metro
politan Associations had produced at a minimum outlay of
£180 ; and that he had seen what he had been looking for
in vain for many years, viz., a clean, healthy, and desirable
home for a mechanic, erected at a price that would pay a fair
return on the money invested.
This is the distinct and special value of the experiment
in question ; and it was instantly recognised by all who had
taken any interest in the question. On the completion of
the first block a number of noblemen and gentlemen came
together for the purpose of inspecting the edifice; and the
testimony was not only unanimous as to the elegant appear
ance of the wThole, and the minute attention to comfort and
decency in the construction of each tenement, but, above all,
�38
OVERCROWDING J
as to the great importance of the point alluded to.
Lord Ebury, who occupied the chair, said :—
Thus,
He did not know whether it was too early in the day to say that
the problem was solved altogether ; but after having very attentively
perused the document which described the building, and having now
carefully inspected the building itself, he must say that, taking the
figures to be correct, and that it was capable of producing a rent
which would give a per-centage of seven or eight per cent, on the
outlay in its erection, a result had been obtained of no slight im
portance, as it solved the difficulty over which previous ex
perimentalists had stumbled, and proved that building enterprises
of that nature could be rendered commercially remunerative.
There were tides in the affairs of men—crises in the development
of all great movements. The name of a great duke who had now
passed away from us was associated with a struggle which was the
turning point of a great strife—the battle of Waterloo : so, in this
struggle, he thought they were now witnessing the victory of
Waterlow in the great battle in which they had all been striving.
Other speakers dwelt on the same point.
Langbourn Buildings,* at a cost of £9,000, provides, in
225 rooms, accommodation for eighty families; and we believe
that the highest expectations of the proprietor, as to the
satisfaction of his tenants, the constancy of their occupation,
and the commercial value of the property, have been fully
realised.
The immediate result of Mr. Aiderman Waterlow’s success
was the formation of the “ Improved Industrial Dwellings
Company, Limited,” of which Lord Stanley was the chairman.
This association is a commercial association, in the strictest
sense of the word. Although its leading members have been,
no doubt, mainly actuated by a desire to promote the public
welfare, yet the practical aim was to carry on the work which
had been so well commenced ; and, so far, the results
must be held as highly satisfactory. The society has already
undertaken five distinct enterprises in various parts of the
metropolis, as follows :—Cromwell Buildings, Bed Cross
Street, Southwark, which will accommodate 24 families ;
Tower Buildings, Wapping, which will accommodate 60 fami* See Plates 2 and 3.
�THE EVIL ANI) ITS REMEDY.
39
lies; Cobden Buildings, King’s Cross Road, Bagnigge Wells,
which will accommodate 20 families ; Stanley Buildings, Old
St. Pancras Road, 100 families ; and City Garden Row, City
Road, where 72 families will be accommodated. Presupposing
that the net return on these undertakings should average six
or seven per cent., as seems very probable, we may expect
that the Company will continue the good work, erecting new
blocks here and there as opportunity may offer, or their funds
will allow, and as the exigencies of the community may
require. It may be presumed, moreover, that with profits at
such a rate, regularly and permanently realised, there will be
no difficulty in obtaining any additional capital which may
be necessary to the carrying on of the enterprise.
We have now to notice the part taken in this great move
ment by the Corporation of the City of London. We shall
make this portion of our history as brief as possible, taking
care, however, to put the essential facts in due order before
our readers. By a resolution of the Court of Common Council
of the 23rd of October, 1851, it was determined that the
“ Finsbury Estate Surplus Fund/’ which amounted to
£42,469. 3s. should be applied to the purpose of providing
improved lodging-houses for the labouring poor. Through
inattention in some quarters, and the multiplication of little
obstacles in others, this resolution was a dead-letter for up
wards of ten years. In 1851 an Act of Parliament was
passed, called the Clerkenwell Improvement Act, authorising
the Corporation to construct the new Victoria Street, Holborn
(and we particularly refer to clauses 1 and 12 of that Act,
the former authorising the destruction of houses, and the
latter authorising the erection of improved houses in their
place). Within three months of the passing of that Act, the
Corporation evinced its sense of the moral obligaton it was
under, by voting the sum named for the purpose of erecting
the dwellings referred to, and referred it to the Improvement
Committee to carry the vote into effect. It was more than
five years before this Committee made any report to the
�40
OVERCROWDING
Court on the subject. They had, however, in the meantime,
purchased ground in Turnmill Street, Clerkenwell, as the
site for the projected building. In their report to the Cor
poration, presented at the end of the year 1856, they curiously
recommended that it would not be expedient to proceed at
present to the erection of lodging-houses on that site. In
1858 the Corporation decided that the balance of the £42,469
should be re-appropriated to the uses of the Corporation, and
indeed, that it should, along with other moneys, be applied to
the reduction of its liabilities. In a year or two, the plot of
land which had been bought by the Improvement Committee
was wanted by the Metropolitan Railway Company. In the
Act of Parliament authorising its sale, direct reference was
made to the engagements and responsibilities of the Corpo
ration on this point. Such was the situation of affairs when
Mr. Waterlow proposed and carried a resolution by which
the subject was referred again to the Improvement Com
mittee for re-investigation. The result has been a happy
one. The Corporation has become convinced of its obliga
tions ; and has handsomely discharged them. A piece of
freehold land has been purchased, at a cost of £16,000,
in the Farringdon Road, on which a magnificent pile of
buildings has been erected at a further cost of £36,000.
These buildings contain dwelling-house accommodation for
180 families. They are built exactly on the model of
Langbourn Buildings, with the exception that the external
decorations are on a somewhat grander scale: whether any real
improvement in the appearance of the edifice has been effected
by this outlay may, perhaps, be questioned. It seems, how
ever, that the Corporation could not well aim at a dividend of
more than 5 per cent.; and the cost of the outside splendour
which has been aimed at will, it so happens, just about reprcsen the difference between a dividend of 5 and one of 6 or
8 per cent. The average cost per room in Langbourn
Buildings was £40 ; in Cromwell Buildings it was £44 ; in
Tower Buildings, £41; in Bagnigge Wells, £43 ; in Old
St. Pancras Road it wras £46. In the Corporation Build
�THE EVIL AND ITS REMEDY.
41
ings the average cost per room amounted to £60. We ven
ture to assert that that increased cost adds nothing to the
actual convenience, comfort, health, or happiness of the
tenants ; and, without saying a word in complaint against it,
we wish our readers to remember that the' 5 per cent, estimated
profit here is no fair argument against the soundness of the
calculations of others, that a profit of 7, 8, or 9 per cent, is
really attainable on dwellings of this class.
It now remains for us to consider what has been done in
furtherance of this great movement by the trustees of the
Peabody Fund. What that fund is, and how it came into ex
istence, every reader of this pamphlet will be already aware.
Suffice it, for the sake of the consistency of our narrative, to say
that, some three or four years since, Mr. George Peabody, an
eminent merchant of America and London, gave the munificent
sum of <£150,000 for the purpose of ameliorating the condition
of the poor of the metropolis. This sum he handed over to the
discretionary use of a committee, consisting of the American
Minister at the Court of Her Majesty, Lord Stanley, Sir James
Emerson Tennent, Mr. C. M. Lampson, and Mr. J. S. Morgan.
These gentlemen were to act as trustees of the fund on behalf
of the donor, and on behalf of those in whose interest the gift
had been so liberally bestowed. Mr. Peabody himself suggested
to this committee the desirability of applying at least a por
tion of the fund in the construction of improved dwellings
for those whom it was his especial desire to benefit.. After
delays which are greatly to be deplored, a beginning has been
made in this business. A series of dwellings has been erected
in Commercial Street, close to the Great Eastern Pailway
Station. This pile of buildings, first occupied on February
29th, 1864, consists of nine shops on the ground floor,
and fifty-seven tenements for families on the upper floors; the
rents of the latter are apportioned as follows—
7 tenements of 3 rooms each, 5s. OtZ. per week.
42
„
2
„
4 0
6
„
2
„
3 6
2
„
1
„
2 6
�42
OVERCROWDING
The experiment is one, some features of which are, we
think, not quite satisfactory. In the existing condition of
the working class population of the metropolis, the time
which has been lost is a lamentable evidence of the lack
of decision and earnestness which too frequently appears
when various minds are called upon to deal with intentions,
purposes, and resources not strictly under their own indepen
dent control. Then, it is a subject of great regret that, in
carrying out the really beneficent scheme of Mr. Peabody,
the trustees have not had a stricter regard to the commercial
conditions of the enterprise in which they have engaged.
We fear that the expenses of oversight, added to the great
original outlay, will prevent these buildings from ever be
coming remunerative. In this case, therefore, a certain
portion of the £150,000, instead of being eternally and in
creasingly reproductive capital, has been sunk; and if the
same principle shall be carried out, the Peabody Fund, instead
of being a perpetual well-spring of blessing to the poor of
London, will have very speedily embodied itself in so much
brick and mortar work, there to stand till time shall wear it
into dust. As was said by an able weekly newspaper two
years ago, in reference to this very fund—“ Spend it in charity,
and you may lodge perhaps 1,500 or 2,000 families. But
make it a great paying concern, and its example will lodge
all the poverty in London.” The trustees of this fund might
have added their incalculably influential experience to that of
Mr. Aiderman Waterlow and the Improved Industrial Dwel
lings Company, and proved that house-building on the soundest
sanitary principles for the working classes may be made a
really profitable business. On the contrary, it is to be feared
that they have, by an injudiciously lavish outlay in external
decoration and artificial novelties of design, contributed to
strengthen a too common impression that undertakings of this
nature can never become a good investment.
The common laundry, though perhaps not a very important
matter in itself, is yet, in our view, an objectionable feature
in the Peabody dwellings. The grounds of this judgment
�THE EVIL AND ITS REMEDY.
43
are very simple, but we think they are very sound. In the
first place, the arrangement necessarily brings a great number
of women together from time to time ; and in the enforced
familiarity thus created, a good deal of gossip, and “chaff,”
. and irregular conversation is likely to be indulged, which
tends banefully to the breaking down of that reserve and
seclusiveness of family life which is one of the strongest
safeguards of its peace and its purity. Then, contentions for
place and precedence are almost certain sometimes to arise,
and these go far to disturb that feeling of good neighbour
ship which it is so desirable to maintain where numbers of
families are living in such .immediate proximity to one
another. Thirdly, the finest delicacies of a woman’s nature
are necessarily taxed by such an arrangement. The woman
whose linen is not quite so ample or so good as another’s,
even should she not be wounded by unpleasant observations,
will find her instinct of self-respect painfully touched, will
feel her inferiority of circumstances to involve a social penalty
which it is hard to bear. These may be esteemed trivial
disadvantages, but those who know most of human nature,
know that the mightiest spring-force of its noblest progress is
always to be found in its very finest sensibilities ; and that, in
all successful efforts for its moral improvement and elevation,
those sensibilities must be taken tenderly and faithfully into
account.
To one other exception we attach much greater importance.
The tenements in this case are made to open into that “ long,
dull, dark corridor,” of which we have previously spoken.
They are not provided each with a separate scullery and
water-closet. But at each end of the corridor there are a
lavatory and two water-closets, those at the one end being
for the use of the males, and those at the other for the use
of the females. It requires no argument to show how far
from the ideal of comfort, decency, and social purity, or
contrary to well known and recognised sanitary laws such an
arrangement as this must be. The constant meeting of
people who should be strangers at these resorts ; the gradual
�44
OVERCROWDING
undermining of all cleanly and healthful sentiments which
must be the result of it; the gross indelicacies which it will
sometimes be impossible to avoid; the extreme inconveniences
which, in cases of sickness, must be endured, are points
which will spontaneously occur to every reflecting mind, and
the condemnation of which will come straight on the heels
of their suggestion.
We have only one more fault to find. We do not sympa
thise with the judgment which denies to the occupants of
these dwellings the small luxury of papered walls. Surely,
where so much money has been lavished on external appear
ance and architectural display-, the very slight cost of a few
yards of paper might have been allowed to the principal
rooms of the tenements. A bare white-washed wall has a look
and tone of desolation which it would perhaps sound pedantic
and somewhat effeminate minutely to analyze, but the import
ance of which every person who has not lived in a prison
or a pig-sty all his days will appreciate. In the combination
of colours and the traces of design the eye not only finds a
silent pleasure, but the mind an unconscious occupation and
a salutary relief. It is not well to cherish in the hearts of
the poor the ambition of luxury, but a life utterly destitute of
luxury is cramped and depressed beyond conception. Taste
is an expensive faculty if it be pampered into absoluteness ;
but a soul without it misses the richest privilege and
keenest relish of existence. The prettily patterned paper
supplies at once the type, the conception, and the motive of
elegance to the simplest housewife, to rob her of which is, in
some sort, cruel as well as mischievous. We really can never
hope that our working classes will master the virtues, if they
are not trained to the refinements of civilization, and it
would be difficult to say how many germs of refinement there
may not be in the neat and agreeable aspect of a sitting
room ; the habitual contemplation of some artistic picture;
the cultivation of a few simple flowers—in short, in the
constant presence of something that, however simple, is sweet
and beautiful.
�TI1E EVIL AND ITS REMEDY.
45
In indulging these slight criticisms on the buildings
erected by the trustees of the Peabody Fund, it is, we hope,
unnecessary to say that we have been actuated by a sincere
desire to see that money, so generously giv^n, judiciously
and usefully spent; and we are quite sure the committee have
this object so supremely at heart, that they will not consider
practical suggestions, though coming from the humblest
quarter, intrusive, impertinent, or disrespectful.*
So far, then, as to efforts already made, and the light they
throw upon the permanent conditions of this great enter
prise. That light is neither flickering nor dim. The results
arrived at are as positive and as distinct in their character as
they well could be; and, under ordinary circumstances, the
“remedy” for the “evil” we have discussed in these pages,
would be adequate to the nature of the case. Unfortunately,
however, the circumstances with which we have now to deal
are not ordinary. The work of destruction, in other words,
is being carried on in London at a much more rapid rate
than that at which we can hope to see the work of re-con
struction maintained, unless the natural course of action can
be greatly stimulated, and means in excess of those
spontaneously offered by private individuals can, on a large
scale and on a simple method, be supplied. In a former part
of this pamphlet we have spoken of the obligations of the
legislature as to those sanitary regulations of the community
on which the life and health of the population so intimately
depend. We have proved that there are preventive and
punitive functions which may be legitimately discharged by
the Government in relation to this question. But are there
no remedial measures which come within its recognised and
proper sphere of action ? If there be such, it is obvious that
every reason exists why the prompt adoption of those
* Since these paragraphs were put into type, a repoit “issued under the authority
of the trustees ” has been published, from which it appears that four other sites
have been secured in different parts of London, in addition to the one we have
referred to in Spitalfields. Atone of them, in Islington, buildings comprising
155 tenements have been erected, making together 202 tenements in occupation
at Christmas, 1865, and similar structures are to he raised at Chelsea, Bermondsey,
and iShadwell.
�46
OVERCROWDING J
measures may be fairly urged upon Parliament. Let it not
be forgotten that the State has a direct share of the re
sponsibility of the injuries which have been done to the
working classes by the development of the great railwav
schemes and other large public improvements in the
metropolis. These schemes and improvements have been
carried out with the direct sanction of Parliament. The
Earl of Derby, the Earl of Shaftesbury, and others, when
they have raised their voices in opposition to such schemes
and improvements, involving, as they must, the displacement
of hundreds and thousands of working people, have done so
in full and solemn recognition of the obligation of the legis
lature to consider what is due to those thus sorely and
ruinously inconvenienced.
That obligation exists, and it is all the heavier now that
the work of demolition has, with the sanction of Parliament
been carried on without reference to the claims of the ousted
families to have suitable accommodation provided for them by
those in whose interest that work has been undertaken. In
short, we have to deal not only with a chronic evil, but with
a special and a most gigantic difficulty.* We are called upon
to provide, not only a cure for a long established and radical
disorder, but also a relief to and a compensation for a wide
spread and appalling calamity. The task is exceptionally
pressing and arduous; and the query arises whether, in
discharging it, we may not reasonably seek exceptional aid.
This is a phase of the subject to which the attention of
Mr. Aiderman Waterlow has been directed; and our ex
pository narrative would be incomplete without some brief
reference to the steps he has taken in regard to it. On the
7th of April, 1865, he addressed a letter to the Secretary
of the Treasury, in which he enclosed a rough draft of
a proposition, which, as he thought, would form a suitable
method by which the legislature might afford to the
movement for providing the poorer and working classes of
the metropolis with proper dwelling accommodations, that
help which recent debates in both Houses had shown a desire
�THE EVIL AND ITS REMEDY.
47
to extend to it, and which if it could be adopted, would, he
felt sure, greatly strengthen the hands of those who were
endeavouring to grapple with the difficulties of this im
portant question. That ‘’rough draft” was as follows:—
By the Act of 9 & 10 Vic., cap. 74, the Public Works Loan
Commissioners are empowered to lend money, in such sums, and
at such interest as they may think fit, upon the security of local
and parochial rates, for the purpose of erecting baths and wash
houses for the use of the labouring classes ; and the repayment
of the principal and interest is made a first charge upon such
structures and the profits which may arise from their use. It is
suggested that if the legislature can be induced to pass an Act
giving the Commissioners power to advance money, to a limited
extent, upon the security of the buildings which have been, or
may hereafter be, erected by persons or companies whose object is
to encourage and promote the improvement of the dwellings of
the working classes, a public benefit of almost incalculable extent
is likely to result, and that a renewed impetus would thus be
given to a movement which has of late sprung up with some
vitality, for providing decent dwelling accommodation for the
working classes of the metropolis and other large cities, where, in
consequence of the rapidly increasing population and wealth of
the country, houses and lands are constantly rising in value, so
that it is impossible for such persons to obtain dwellings at
adequate rents which afford anything like the proper extent of
accommodation in point of space, decency, health, and comfort.
It is assumed that the profit rentals likely to be derived from this
class of dwellings is insufficient of itself to induce capitalists to
invest the large sums which must necessarily be employed in order
to provide the number of houses at al]» to be compared with the
present overwhelming demand, a demand which has been in
creasing with the population year by year, and now rendered
imperatively urgent on every ground, in consequence of the great
havoc and destruction of small houses which has of late been caused
by the construction of railways and other public improvements;
and, further, that the possibility of obtaining a higher rate of
interest than at present derived is likely to attract the investment
of capital in large amounts, and to develop still further schemes
which are already partially successful in remedying the evils
complained of.
The following notes as to the plan upon which such proposed
advances might be made, are offered in the hope of eliciting sug
gestions and opinions rather than as defining a particular scheme.
I. That an Act of Parliament should be passed in the present
session to enable the Public Works Loan Commissioners to grant
loans upon mortgage of lands, houses, and premises, which are now,
�48
OVERCROWDING J
or may hereafter be, applied to the use and occupation of the Work
ing classes, upon the same or a similar principle to that upon
which advances are now made for the carrying out of various mu
nicipal public works, such as the maintenance of fisheries, collieries,
mines, and highways, and the erection of gaols, lunatic asylums,
workhouses, baths and washhouses, &c., where the security for the
repayment of the principal and interest of the loan consists in a
charge upon the tolls and dues, or upon the local or county rates,
or upon the profits of the baths, &c., as the case may be. The
repayment of the principal and interest being secured in this case
by a first charge upon the rents and profits arising from the occu
pation of the tenements, and upon the premises comprising the
mortgage.
II. That no loan shall exceed in amount three-fifths of the value
of the property to be so mortgaged ; the value to be determined
by the Commissioners.
III. That the whole amount of such loan shall, within two
years of the grant thereof, be applied to the satisfaction of the
Commissioners in and towards the erection of other additional
dwellings or tenements for the occupation of the industrial
classes.
IV. That the interest co be paid to the Commissioners on
account of such loans shall be 3| per centum per annum.
V. That the principal and interest thereon shall be repaid to
the Commissioners by thirty-five equal annual payments, the
amounts of which shall be agreed upon at the time of the granting
of the loan.
VI. That the mortgage shall empower the Commissioners
periodically to inspect the mortgaged dwellings (or those erected
by means of the loan) with the view to ascertain whether they are
kept and maintained in proper repair, and also whether they are
occupied solely by person^ of the class intended to be benefited
by the proposed Act.
VII. That, in the event of the foregoing requirements not
being complied with at any time, the Commissioners may, by
giving notice to the mortgagors, call in the balance of the loan
then remaining unpaid, with interest to the date of its payment;
and that the Commissioners may sell the property failing the re
payment of the loan or compliance with their order after three
months’ further notice.
Mr. Waterlow requested Mr. F. Peel to bring these
suggestions to the notice of the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
and to enquire whether he would be willing to receive a
deputation on the subject, adding that “ he should be glad if
an appointment could possibly be made either before or at
�THE EVIL AND ITS REMEDY.
49
any early date after the Easter vacation, as if it should be
found that the Government might probably be induced to
adopt the project, he thought a very large sum would
at once be embarked in the erection of Improved Dwellings
both in London and in the suburbs in connection with the
workmen’s trains.” On the 15th of May following Mr. F.
Peel replied to this letter as follows :—
Treasury Chambers,
15th May, 1865.
Sir,—I am commanded by the Lords Commissioners of Her
Majesty’s Treasury to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 7th
April, on the subject of a proposed loan from the Public Works’ Loan
Commissioners to a society of persons interested in the improvement
of the dwellings of the labouring classes in the metropolis, and I
am to acquaint you that their Lordships doubt whether they would
be justified in holding out the expectation of public aid for a
purpose such as that described, except to such bodies (all other
conditions being satisfactorily adjusted) as might so limit their rate
of profit as to distinguish their case from that of ordinary com
mercial enterprise.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
Mr. Aiderman Waterlow,
F. Peel.
Carpenters’ Hall, London Wall.
On the 24th of the same month Mr. Waterlow wrote again
to the Treasury, as follows :—
Carpenters’ Hall, London, E.C.,
24^ May, 1865.
Sir,—I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your
letter of the 15th hist., marked 7465 U, in reply to my application
to the Right Honourable the Chancellor of the Exchequer, asking
if he would receive a deputation on the subject of a draft scheme
then enclosed, which proposed that the Public Works Loan Com
missioners should be empowered to grant Loans under certain
restrictions for the purpose of encouraging and assisting the
erection of suitable dwellings for the working classes, throughout
the country as well as in the metropolis.
I now beg to enclose for my Lords’ consideration a copy of the draft
scheme to which I have adverted, and would respectfully beg to
draw their attention to the line which I have marked in pencil, to
the effect that the scheme is put forward in its present shape with
a view to elicit the expression of opinion and discussion upon its
merits, rather than as defining, in a final measure, the exact
4
�50
OVERCROWDING ;
terms and conditions under which the proposed advances should be
made.
Speaking for myself and for the Company of which I am the
Deputy Chairman, I had always contemplated that there should
be astipulation as to the amount of profit to be derived by persons
seeking to avail themselves of the assistance of Government in any
such projects as have been referred to; and I beg to submit to their
lordships that the maximum rate of profit to be derived by com
panies or persons from investments in property, in connection with
which a Government loan shall be subsisting, ought not to be less than
£5 per cent, per annum. The object should, I think, be to fix the
rate of interest on the one hand so low as to preclude objection,
on the ground that the public funds were being employed for pur
poses of private profit, and on the other sufficiently high to induce
capitalists to embark in enterprises of this nature.
There are many considerations which might be brought to their
Lordships’ notice, in support of this rate being adopted, but I will
confine myself by calling attention to the fact, that the ordinary
net returns from investments on house property are from 7i to 10
per cent., and I would respectfully submit that there can be no
reasonable objection to the Government assisting persons who are
desirous of placing the working classes in a better position, and
who would be content with less than they could certainly obtain
upon ordinary investments of that class.
It should, I think, be borne in mind that great public benefit
would arise from the periodical supervision to which it is proposed
the mortgaged dwellings should be submitted so long as the Govern
ment loan was continued. No loan would be granted except upon
buildings already erected upon the best sanitary principles, and if
these buildings were constantly maintained in thorough repair, a
very low death and disease rate would prevail as a rule, which, in
districts principally occupied by the labouring classes, almost in
variably produces a low poor rate, the dwellings in question would
therefore confer a benefit in a pecuniary as well as in a moral
point of view.
I do not gather from your letter whether my Lords are now in a
position to grant loans of the kind suggested, or whether it will be
necessary to go to Parliament to obtain any further enactment on
the subject. I mention this point merely that, in the event of the
scheme proposed receiving their Lordships’ favourable consideration,
no time may be lost in bringing it into operation.
I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your most obedient Servant,
S. H. Waterlow.
To the Right Honourable F. Peel, &c., &c.
The reply to this was eminently satisfactory. It was dated
June 14th, and was as follo-ws : —
�THE EVIL AND ITS REMEDY.
51
Treasury Chambers,
]Ath June, 1865.
Sir, —In reply to your letter of 24th ultimo, relating to the question
of advances on loan from the Public Works Loan Commissioners
in aid of the improvement of the dwellings of the working classes,
I am desired by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury
to acquaint you that they consider 5 per cent, as the limit of the
profit which should be allowed, and that their Lordships will be
prepared to apply to Parliament (if that limit be thought a fair one)
to obtain powers for this purpose, either permanent or to subsist
(as to entering into fresh transactions) for a limited time,
I am, Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
Mr. Aiderman Waterlow,
F. Peel.
Carpenters’ Hall,
London, E.C.
In closing this important correspondence, Mr. Waterlow
expressed his gratification at learning that the Lords Com
missioners approved of the limit of 5 per cent, and that they
were prepared to apply to Parliament for the necessary power
to grant the loans proposed. He urged, in consideration of
the extensive compulsory powers for the destruction of small
house property granted during the past and then present
sessions of Parliament, the passing of a short Bill immediately
for the necessary authority to grant the Ioans in question.
The dissolution, however, was so near at hand, and so occupied
the thoughts of every Member, that it was found utterly im
possible to enter upon any new legislative business at that
period. The new Parliament will, there can be no doubt,
be called upon to consider the matter without any delay;
and we may hope that the perfectly fair and reasonable
proposals to which the assent of the Government has
been already virtually given, will receive the cordial sanction
of the legislature.
The task which the present writer set himself is now com
pleted. It has been shown how sore and how pressing is the
need for the provision of improved and greatly extended
dwelling-house accommodation for the working classes of the
metropolis. The sanitary obligations which enter into the
question have been set forth in as clear and emphatic terms '
�52
OVEKCKOWDING J
as were available. The efforts, honourable but frightfully
inadequate, which have been already made towards meeting
this stern and urgent demand of our civilization, have been
rapidly enumerated. The results of those efforts have been,
as far as possible, gathered up and stated. The conditions
on which alone a satisfactory solution of the momentous pro
blem can be hoped for, bringing it within commercial laws,
have been demonstrated. And it has been irrefragably
shown that those conditions are not impracticable. Here,
therefore, with one or two passing observations, wo conclude.
Of course, all that has been said about London on this
important subject, is more or less true of every city, town,
village, and hamlet in the country, and it is edifying to know
that the provinces are not idle in the matter. Many of the
great landholders of the nation are beginning to show a wise
as well as benevolent interest in the domestic and home
comforts of their labourers. The splendid examples set by the
late Duke of Bedford, by the late lamented Duke of
Northumberland, and by such good landlords as Lord
Palmerston, and others who might be named, are not only
indicative of a greatly improved feeling—a deeper sense of
responsibility on the part of the employers of labour—but are
powerfully stimulating others to proceed on the same just and
enlightened principles. Several provincial associations have
been formed for the promotion of this movement, and it can
not be doubted that when the business is once fairly afloat in
London it will rapidly extend throughout the kingdom.
And there is an aspect of the case on wThich, as yet, nothing
has been herein said, but the practical force of which all
good men in general, and the large employers of labour in
particular, ought to feel. The value of man, as a helper of
his fellow-man in the occupation of life, is indefinitely
increased by everything that promotes his physical health,
his moral exaltation, and his social respectability. In other
words, to take care of the working man is, in itself, sound
economy. We have found that this is true of horses, and
cows, and sheep—of all animals that are in any way directly
�THE EVIL ANI) ITS REMEDY.
53
useful to mankind. Hence, within the past quarter of a
century, the progress which has been made in the housing of
our cattle has been enormous—infinitely in advance of that
which has taken place in the accommodation provided for
poor humanity. That such a discrepancy exists may be
somewhat shameful, yet it is easily explained. A man’s com
mercial interest in a horse is not only a problem in arithmetic,
worked with certainty and ease, but it is one in the solution
of which the horse has no personal power or responsibility.
Those very attributes of humanity which qualify it for free
dom and independence, take it beyond the reach of commercial
calculation. The worker may sell so much labour, informed
by so much intelligence and aided by so much skill, at a
certain current rate—an average market value; but the man
who buys his labour feels that on the completion of the
bargain, and the fulfilment of its terms on both sides, his
obligation to the worker ceases. And in a sense it does.
But no political economy can be complete which does not
include the fraternity of mankind. The farmer loses to the
full extent of the social degradation and domestic misery of
the labourers on his farm just as much as he loses by the
shambling laziness, the uncleansed dustiness, the panting
feebleness of his ill-fed, ill-stabled, and ill-tended horse. The
analogy does not stop here, however. The capabilities of the
horse are limited. The horse does not work his way up from
the plough to the hunting field or the race course; his
destiny is rather downwards. Man’s destiny is either
upwards or downwards, according to his character, the treat
ment he receives, and the influences that encompass him
about. The young and enthusiastic artizan, engaged to-day
in the simplest mechanical tasks, will, by to-morrow, be
either unfitted for those tasks by the ennervation of his pur
pose, the beclouding of his intellect, the despair that has
settled on his heart, or else he will be worthy of promotion
to trusts where the faculty of design may co-operate with
mere executive ability. The
is really not more interested
in the alternative thus pictured than is the master. Even if
�•54
OVERCROWDING
the man alone were interested, it would be the solemn duty
of all kind and good people to consider the circumstances on
which issues so fine and so momentous hang; and so, within
all reasonable and available limits, to regulate his lot in life
that his energies shall not be relaxed, his ambition staggered
by a hundred malignant, unnecessary obstacles, his heart
broken by griefs which the cruel improvidence of society has
cast upon him. But the master, too, thrives with his thrift;
advances with his progress; flourishes on his prosperity. As
a rule it may be affirmed that every increase made in the
labourer’s wage is sustained by a more than equal increase
in the profit made by the master out of his labour. But how
can the labourer, whose home is a mere “fever-nest,” hope
to make progress in his art ? The very air he breathes
dooms him to decrepitude. He works under the bondage of
a depression and a lassitude which nothing can shake off.
To avoid the foul odours, the jarring, discordant voices, the
ghastly, disordered aspects of his over-crowded home, he, at
night, instead of improving his mind, and bracing up his
loins for the march or the battle of life by meditation, by
study, or by the indulgence of the holy loves of home, seeks
a miserable and a defiling solace in the gin palaoe. He
is not long in reaching the horrible goal of his unhappy
career, and when he sinks into the pauper’s perdition
or the drunkard’s hell, who suffers in his fall ? His
wife and children suffer. That is something to make
the Christian weep. His wife and children become a
burden on the community. That is something to make the
ratepayer ponder. Society suffers in his lost service, his para
lyzed arm, his neglected duty, his damaged work. That is
a fact worthy of the statesman’s study. The capitalist
suffers, in his lagging enterprises, his irregular supply
of labour, his dependence on men who cannot grow up
with his affairs, his exposure to disappointment in critical
junctures, and in the perpetual confusion in which his mind
is cast through the uncertainties of the labour market, and
the ill-condition of the men on whom his reputation, his
�THE EVIL AND ITS REMEDY.
55
credit, and his fortune depend. Therefore, it is no extrava
gance to say that in this question of the improved dwelling
house accommodation of the working classes, to which the
Christian is urged by every humane consideration, and the
statesman by the highest political obligation, the rate-payer
and the capitalist have a direct, personal, pecuniary interest.
In attacking this huge task, however, we must be on our
guard against easy-looking theories, in which only one object
is aimed at, and all other most sacred conditions of heathful
society are forgotten. Among these theories, we would as
suredly place that which proposes the establishment of subur
ban colonies for the families of working people. In the
mixture of classes is to be found one of the very best securi
ties of civilization. That the railway system may be utilized
in the conveyance of working men from the scenes of their
labour, in the heart of the great city, to their homes in the
suburbs, is a hope which may be legitimately cherished, but
to lay out a whole district for houses suitable only to the
working order, would not only be a mistake in economy, but
a great moral and social calamity. It would be a mistake in
economy, for we may be quite certain that the class of trades
men who would supply these colonies, would be an inferior
class; they would be compelled to compensate themselves for
the limited range of goods required of them, and the small
sums spent by each customer, either by the poor quality of
all they sold, or else by an exorbitant rate of profit; and
every way the working classes would be the losers. Then it
would be a social calamity; for what we want more than
anything besides in this country is, not the isolation, but the
intermixture and the intercommunion of classes. When the
rich and the poor are brought into contact with one another,
both are benefited—the rich by the restraint put upon their
pride, and the breadth and elasticity imparted to their human
sentiments, and the poor by the models of dignity and ele
gance which are continually presented to them, the elevation
of their ideal of existence, the stimulus supplied to their own
aspirations, the encouragement afforded to the salutary spirit
�56
OVERCROWDING.
of social emulation, and the unconscious refinement commu
nicated to their manners, their habits of thought, and their
intercourse with one another.
There is, also, some need of caution in another direction.
Some have already been found who have been provoked to
lament the rapid progress of the metropolis in population, in
industry, and in wealth, because by the exigencies of that
progress so many poor people have been driven out of their
homes, and compelled in crowds to huddle together in places
which are altogether unfit to be the habitations of men.
There has been, no doubt, in the course of the remarkable
developments which we have recently undergone in all the
elements of material prosperity, a sad forgetfulness of the
claims of those who have been displaced to make way for
those developments. And great praise is due to Lord Derby,
Lord Shaftesbury, and others, who have tried to force on the
great traders on the progress of the community some definite
responsibility to that lower strata of the population which
has been so mercilessly and so scandalously jostled about to
give scope to their ambitious schemes. But the schemes
have, nevertheless, a beneficence of their own, the gladsome
fruits of which generations to come will enjoy. Progress has
its penalties ; but it is a gracious law. Civilization has her
cruelties; but she is, on the whole, and. in the long run, a
most chaste and charitable and catholic spirit. Thankful for
her gifts, let us do our duty, and, though the splendid car in
which she rides along may crush an idler here and a straggler
there; yea, though because we do not providently clear the
way before her, many are crushed beneath her chariot wheels,
let us be assured that the Mistress and the Idol of our age is
no Juggernaut, imposing death and desolation as tests of the
fidelity of her devotees, and demanding sacrifice as the price
of salvation; but a most mild and genial and tender-hearted
Maiden—the beautiful Benefactress of all the world.
��56
OVERCROWDING.
of social emulation, and the unconscious refinement commu
nicated to their manners, their habits of thought, and their
intercourse with one another.
There is, also, some need of caution in another direction.
Some have already been found who have been provoked to
lament the rapid progress of the metropolis in population, in
industry, and in wealth, because by the exigencies of that
progress so many poor people have been driven out of their
homes, and compelled in crowds to huddle together in places
which are altogether unfit to be the habitations of men.
There has been, no doubt, in the course of the remarkable
developments which we have recently undergone in all the
elements of material prosperity, a sad forgetfulness of the
claims of those who have been displaced to make way for
those developments. And great praise is due to Lord Derby,
Lord Shaftesbury, and others, who have tried to force on the
great traders on the progress of the community some definite
responsibility to that lower strata of the population which
has been so mercilessly and so scandalously jostled about to
give scope to their ambitious schemes. But the schemes
have, nevertheless, a beneficence of their own, the gladsome
fruits of which generations to come will enjoy. Progress has
its penalties ; but it is a gracious law. Civilization has her
cruelties; but she is, on the whole, and in the long run, a
most chaste and charitable and catholic spirit. Thankful for
her gifts, let us do our duty, and, though the splendid car in
which she rides along may crush an idler here and a straggler
there; yea, though because we do not providently clear the
way before her, many are crushed beneath her chariot wheels,
let us be assured that the Mistress and the Idol of our age is
no Juggernaut, imposing death and desolation as tests of the
fidelity of her devotees, and demanding sacrifice as the price
of salvation; but a most mild and genial and tender-hearted
Maiden—the beautiful Benefactress of all the world.
��I
���w
56'3*
GROUND PLAN OF A SINGLE BLOCK OF THE IMPROVED DWELLINGS FOR THE INDUSTRIAL CLASSES.
��
Dublin Core
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Title
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Victorian Blogging
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Pamphlet
Dublin Core
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Title
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Overcrowding: the evil and its remedy
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 56 p. : ill. (3 plates, 2 folded, including frontispiece plan) ; 22 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Plate 1 illustrating Henry Robarts model cottages. Plates 2 & 3 Langbourn Buildings.
Publisher
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Longmans, Green and Co.
Date
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1866
Identifier
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G5397
Subject
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Housing
Creator
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[Unknown]
Rights
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Overcrowding: the evil and its remedy), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
Format
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application/pdf
Type
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Text
Language
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English
Conway Tracts
Housing
Langbourn Buildings - London
Overcrowding (Housing)
Working Classes
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IMPROVED DWELLINGS FOR THE INDUSTRIAL
CLASSES.
(Brounb JJlan anb Cilcbation
OF
LANGBOURN BUILDINGS,
MARK STREET,
PAUL STREET, FINSBURY SQUARE,
DESIGNED AND ERECTED FOR MR. ALDERMAN WATERLOW
BY MR. MATTHEW ALLEN:
WITH DESCRIPTIVE NOTES, AND AN APPENDIX,
BY
J. A. MAYS.
LONDON:
ROBERT HARDWiCKE, 192,
1863.
PICCADILLY
�*** The number of visitors who are flocking to the building,
which it was the purpose of the following notes to describe for the
benefit of those who were present at the Opening, renders a further
issue of them necessary.
An account of the proceedings at the Opening is now added.
J. A. MAYS.
�IMPROVED DWELLINGS FOR THE
INDUSTRIAL CLASSES.
The friends of the movement for improving the condition
of the dwellings of the working classes have cause to he
thankful, in one respect, to the projectors of the twentynine schemes now before Parliament, for extending and
completing the railway system of the metropolis, as great
good is likely to be accomplished by causing public
attention to be forcibly directed to the tremendous extent
of the evils under which hundreds of thousands of the
working population of London are suffering—evils arising
mainly from the overcrowded and unhealthy condition
of their dwellings. The success of the Underground
Railway seems to have given extraordinary vitality to
a whole host of metropolitan extension and junction lines,
the construction of which, while necessitating the appro
priation of some of the very few open areas that London
still possesses, and going further towards converting the
metropolis into a huge network of tunnels, aqueducts
and arches, will also necessitate the entire removal of
many hundred houses, the majority of which are occu
pied by the industrial classes. The unhealthy nature
and the insufficient extent of the accommodation with
which thev are already provided, coupled with the
sweeping and sudden destruction of the large number
of dwelling-houses which the carrying out of these
�4
projects involves, becomes a matter of serious incon
venience to the working portion of the population, and
of more than ordinary anxiety to the employers of labour
and to the legislature. It is perfectly needless therefore
to offer one word of apology in introducing the accom
panying drawings to public notice. The importance of
the project to which they relate, whether considered as
regards the furtherance of social reforms, the prevention
of disease, the extension of the railway systems of the
country, the general amelioration of the condition of the
labouring classes, or as purely a commercial speculation,
renders it of the deepest moment that everything in the
shape of practical experience, especially of that kind
which points to a remedy for a state of things which every
one deplores, should be placed before the public without
delay.
The nature and extent of the evils sought to be grappled
with by a well-organized scheme, having for its object the
rendering of the dwelling place of the working man a
home in its truest sense, need not be here depicted, as they
have been so often and so eloquently described by abler
pens ; but assuming that there is no longer any doubt as
to their existence, the object of the present paper is to
attempt the indication of a cure rather than to describe
the disease. Laborious efforts have been made of late
years, under the auspices of the two great Societies, and by
many benevolent persons, in attempting to surmount this
subject, beset as it is on every hand with apparently unap
proachable difficulties. Society is indebted to an incal
culable extent to the labours of the late Prince Consort,
the Earl of Shaftesbury, Miss Burdett Coutts, and many
other generous spirits who have been content to spend
large sums in this good work—a work which the noble
earl just named rightly appreciates when he says : “ This
�o
is a subject about which you cannot think or speak too
earnestly. The condition of the dwellings of the labour
ing classes is the besetting sin and difficulty of. the time,
for it stands in the way of every good moral impression.”—
It is due to the unremitting efforts of philanthropists,
under the auspices chiefly of the two great bodies,—the
Society for Improving the Condition of the Working
Classes, and the Metropolitan Association, coupled with
the beneficial operation of certain legislative enactments,
that the debasing condition of the dwellings in which so
many many thousands of our countrymen arc located
has been to some extent alleviated. A perusal of the
annual reports of these Societies shows the long period
over which their operations have extended, and the large
amounts which they have expended ; but it is with a pang
of heartfelt regret that one is forced to acknowledge that,
most praiseworthy as their exertions have been as
pioneering this good work, the success which might have
been expected to result, from their labours has not yet been
achieved. Though they have succeeded in producing in
certain cases houses which satisfy the requirements of
the working classes it is undoubtedly true that no
building has yet been erected which, while combining
the essential elements of comfort and respectability,
produces in the shape of rent such a return on the money
sunk in its erection as to induce capitalists to repeat
similar experiments on a larger scale for the sake of the
profits. It is obvious that if a scheme could be devised which
would in every case attain these important objects, espe
cially the latter, the matter would be set at rest at once
and for ever; and it is equally obvious that until this can
be done the subject must continue to be regarded as the
greatest social difficulty of the day. The late Prince
Consort indicated his clear perception of this truth some
�6
years since in the observation he made to the Honorary
Architect of Lord Shaftesbury’s Society—“ Mr. Roberts,
unless we can get 7 or 8 per cent, we shall not succeed, in
inducing builders to invest their capital in such houses,”
Instead of addressing themselves vigorously to the ac
complishment of what is here indicated, architects and
builders, on whom such a project would naturally devolve,
seem in a great measure to have relaxed their efforts
latterly, and to be content to allow the question to be con
sidered as one incapable of a profitable solution by any
known application of the materials at their disposal.
It would seem to be a matter of extreme importance,
therefore, to examine previous experiments, with a view
to ascertain in what respects greater economy in the cost
of construction may be attained, and whether at the
same time any of the buildings themselves present features
which may be judiciously avoided. Addressing one’s
attention to the last point, first let us notice incidentally
the Institutional appearance that many of them present.
It is unquestionable that in most of the buildings of this
class the long rows of windows have a dreary monotonous
effect, and impress on the mind the idea of a workhouse or
of a penitentiary. This is perhaps not altogether preventible where many suites of dwellings have to be arranged
in floors or flats one above the othei’; but it certainly
speaks volumes as to the great want of decent accommo
dation felt by the working classes, that although this
is an objection which is universally admitted, it does
not seem to operate to the exclusion of tenants ; still,
it is an objection that should, if possible, be obviated
in planning other buildings. Every opportunity should
be seized of providing, if possible, a home which in
every way tends to increase the self-respect of its occu
pant, and to engender that principle in the mind which
�7
indicates its presence in the cleanly appearance of the
home itself, and sometimes adorns it with flowers and
shrubs. It is advisable to give to each dwelling an
individuality of appearance; and also to dissipate the
feeling, unfortunately but too general, that the occu
pants of the “ model dwellings ” are the recipients of
charity. The next thing to be borne in mind is, that
every tenant should have complete and exclusive use
of all the essential accessories to a home ; such as water
supply, sink, copper, dusf-shoot, coal-place, and watercloset. In some cases economy both of space and cost of
building has been sought to be obtained by arrange
ments whereby two or more tenants have had the use of
these in common; but the divided use of such important
requisites, which ought if possible to be in a decent wellregulated home reserved to the exclusive use of only a
single family, is, I think, far from compensated by a
slight saving of space and cost of erection. It would
certainly be preferable to provide these appendages to
every dwelling, even though it should render it necessary
to adopt an exterior of tlic plainest possible description.
In some of the so-called model dwellings recently erected,
and to which the foregoing remarks would also apply,
that which must at once be characterized as a defect of no
ordinary kind is observable. Somewhat showy exteriors
have been obtained at a great sacrifice of internal comfort ;
—in the one case by the introduction, at a very great
expense, of elliptical counter arches over every window
and doorway in four large blocks of buildings containing
in the aggregate some hundreds of openings : and in the
other bv the use of ornamental stone columns at the door
ways. These architectural luxuries seem to me to be
sadly misplaced in buildings which cannot boast a
particle of either plastering or paper on their internal
�8
walls, and where every room, whether parlour, living-room
or bed-room, presents a repetition of the bare and cheer
less aspect of a prison cell. It is surely to be regretted
that money should be lavishly applied to the production
of that which is clearly unnecessary, at the expense of
denying to the tenants the cheerfid effect and air of
comfort that would be given to these dwellings by the
addition of a few yards of plastering and paper-hangings.
In no case save in the houses for working people would any
architect venture to ignore the power of appreciation on
the part of any portion of the community of the decencies
of a well-arranged dwelling, or to profess that a mere
whitewashed brick wall complies with the requirements
of a modern dwelling-house in respect to its internal
decoration.
I am not alone in believing that the
homes of workmen cannot by any possibility be rendered
too attractive, complete, and comfortable; and that while
they will often meet with stolid indifference anything of a
“ missionising ” tendency, the working classes gladly
welcome and warmly appreciate the efforts made to
obviate the evils and improve the condition of their
dwellings. What they very properly desire is, that,
if possible, homes shall be provided capable of meeting the
requirements of an English workman’s family—a home
which shall present an appearance not unattractive, and
the occupation of which shall not engender a feeling on
their part that their friends will regard them as being the
occupants of almshouses.
I am conscious that this brief introduction has already
extended beyond its proper limits; without indulging in
any further digression, therefore, let me at once proceed
to call attention to the peculiarities of the building repre
sented in the accompanying })lan and elevation of a block
of dwellings recently designed and erected by Mr. Matthew
�9
Allen, of Tabernacle Walk, Finsbury, for Mr. Alderman
Waterlow.
A patient and anxious consideration of the whole subject
led to the conclusion that the following were among the
most important points which required consideration :—
I. A ground plan easily adaptable to any plot of
ground, capable of repetition to any extent, and
presenting in the elevation a pleasing and attrac
tive appearance.
II. Suites of rooms at different rents, so planned as
to secure the greatest economy of space, mate
rials, and labour, in the erection of the building,
providing at the same time for the exclusive
use of each family, within the external door of
the lettings, every essential requisite of domestic
convenience.
III. The construction of a flat roof capable of being
used as a drying and recreation ground, so as to
leave as much space as possible available for
building.
IV. Planning the positions of the doors, windows,
and fireplaces, with reference to a suitable ar
rangement of the furniture of the apartments,
and the placing of proper fireplaces, cupboards,
shelves, &c., in every room.
V. An efficient system of drainage and ventilation.
VI. Making the joinery as near as possible to an
uniform size and pattern, so that machinery
might be brought to bear in economizing its
manufacture to a considerable extent.
VII. The discovery and adaptation of a new material
combining the properties of strength and dura
�10
bility, adaptability, attractiveness of appearance,
and cheapness, in an eminent degree.
VIII. The combination of these advantages in build
ings which, when let at fair rentals, would
produce a good return on the outlay incurred in
their erection.
IX. The selection of a locality where the ground rent
would not be excessive, although the tenants
would be sufficiently near* their work to enable
them to take their meals at home.
Let us now see to what extent these advantages have
been attained and combined in the present building. Its
general plan may be described as a parallellogram of 56
feet by 44 feet, divided into four sections by a party wall
in the centre and the two passages (EE) in the middle of
each wing. The two centre sections arc set back about
3 feet from the line of frontage, for the purpose of giving
space for a balcony of that width on each of the upper
floors. Each section comprises one suite of rooms, to
which access is obtained from the passages (EE) leading
(on all the upper floors) direct from the balcony (G). The
balconies arc reached by a fireproof staircase having a semi
elliptical form, the entrances to which are shown on the
elevation by the two doorways in the centre of the building.
This staircase is continued to and gives access to the roof.
The larger lettings, consisting of three rooms and a wash
house, occupy the end sections of the building. E D the
entrance door, g is a living room provided with a range
having an oven and boiler. Leading out of the living room
is tlie washhouse or scullery (ft) which contains in every
case what may be called the accessories of the dwelling,—
water cistern, sink, a small fireplace, washing copper, dust
shoot, water-closet, &c. It is expected that the fireplace
�11
in the washhouse will conduce greatly to the comfort of
the living room in the summer time. Q is a comfortable
bedroom having a fireplace; a capacious cupboard (H) is
arranged in the party wall between this room and the
entrance lobby, and over the latter is a useful receptacle
for the stowage of bulky objects. Passing out towards
the front parlour (0), is a series of shelves having
an artificial stone bottom and back, intended by its
proximity to the living room to serve as a cupboard for pro
visions, &c. 0 is a, spacious handsome parlour having two
windows : the fireplace is placed a little out of the centre
of the room, so as to leave a convenient space in which to
put an additional bed in cases where this would be
required to be used as a bedroom. On the other side of
the fireplace is a sideboard and cupboard.
The centre sections, comprising the smaller lettings,
consist of two rooms and a washhouse, &c. The wash
house A and the living room B are exactly similar to
those in the larger letting The bedroom Q can be con
veniently converted into a parlour by arranging a set of
curtains across the recess at the back of the room, and
thus dividing the part where the bed would be placed from
the rest of the apartment. WWW represent the win
dows. The plan is the same on each side of the party
walls, and every floor or flat is a repetition of the
other. Close to the ceilings of all the rooms a ventilator
is placed which communicates with air shafts running
through the centres of the chimney stacks. The air is thus
constantly rarified, and a system of natural ventilation is
produced. Besides this, it will be seen that by setting open
the windows a current of external air can be at one
passed through every room in the direction of the dotted
lines. The lower panes of the windows are filled in
with ornamental ground glass, so that no window blinds
�12
are necessary. The windows are constructed oil a some
what novel principle, being made to open outwards
like ordinary French casements, but the two lower
panes are not made to open, so that the danger of
children falling out, as well as the disadvantages of
the ordinary window sashes, are avoided. All the rooms
are 8 ft. 9 in. in height. The other dimensions are figured
on the plan, and need not be repeated here. Drainage is
effected by means of 4-in. stoneware pipes passing from
the top of the building, down the corners of the washhouses,
directly to the common sewer. The dust shaft carries the
dust to covered receptacles at the base of the building,
and each shoot is provided with an iron cover so as to pre
vent the return of dust and effluvia. The dust shafts are
also continued to the top of the building, and act as ven
tilators to the dust bins. The greater part of the rooms
especially the living rooms, have scarcely any external
walls, so that they will be always warm and dry. All
the rooms are plastered and papered, and the wash
houses are plastered and coloured. Every tenant has
his apartments completely to himself, and nothing
is used in common except the roof as a drying
and recreation ground. By extending the area of the
building three or four feet in every direction the size of
the rooms could be easily increased, and suites of rooms
obtained well adapted to the requirements of any class
of the community. With the view of judging of the
happy effect that a row of these buildings would produce,
the visitor is requested to stand a hundred yards away
from the building and imagine the pleasing appearance of
a street having several buildings like this on eacli side
of the way. The party walls on the roofs might be
dispensed with in cases where several blocks arc built
side by side, and the roofs thus connected together would
���observing the rapid and facile manner in which it is made
to assume any desired shape. Castings will be made and
removed from moulds in the presence of the visitors.
With respect to the window
dressings and sills it will, probably, be admitted that the use
of the new material is a vast improvement on the ordinary
York sills, and yet the moulded ornamental sill is actually
the cheaper of the two. In the case of the chimney pieces,
too, a marked improvement is recognizable. The com
monest Bath stone, got up in the plainest style, would
cost about twice as much as those of artificial stone with
ornamental sunk panels, and as there are seventy fire
places in the building, there is a great saving in the
aggregate. The effect when these are painted to imitate
marble is very tasteful. The Building Act renders
it imperative to make the stairs of fireproof materials ;
and when we compare the cost of the stairs formed of
this material with the price of ordinary stone steps, the
saving is found to be enormous. The patent material
possesses all the advantages of appearance and durability
of allrtland stone staircase at one-fifth of its cost, and at
half the price of even the commonest York staircase.
These stairs were all fixed in their places as the building
progressed, and they have endured the wear and tear of the
�1G
workmen s heavy boots for some months past—more wear,
probably, than they will suffer for the next three or foul
’s. In some cases they were “nosed” with Portland
nreprooi noors, m ordinary c
construction of 9-in. walls for their support, but here the
extraordinary lightness and strength of the material just
described enables 4-in. walls to be used with perfect safety.
The economy of materials and labour in this respect in a
building of five stories is so obvious that it need hardly be
referred to. Portions of the building will remain unoc
cupied for a few days after the opening for the inspection
of visitors presenting their cards, and opportunities of
making accurate comparisons of the superiority and
diminished cost of various articles formed of this material
and of the ordinary building stones will be afforded.
The judicious arrangements of the plan already alluded
to as securing the greatest economy of space and cost of
construction, combined with the application of this
beautiful material, overcome the great difficulty hitherto
felt in attempting to deal with the problem of reducing
the cost of such buildings to a sum that the net rent
would pay a good return in the shape of interest on the
outlay. The pleasure with which one greets the appear
ance of such a building is enhanced by the knowledge,
�17
based on experience, that similar erections can be under
taken at a cost of something like £110 per dwelling
(see account annexed at page 20). All that is now required
seems to be the judicious application of capital to the ex
tension of the system in the overcrowded districts of the
metropolis and the large towns of the kingdom.
It is earnestly desired to avoid the use of any names
which could have the effect of attaching to the buildings
the idea of their being intended for the exclusive use of
a particular class. It is feared that the somewhat indis
criminate use of the word “model” in connection with
this and kindred subjects, has had anything but a bene
ficial effect; it seems to be associated with the ideas of
centralization so repugnant to the feelings of Englishmen.
The Earl of Shaftesbury honoured the building with a
visit some few days since, and stated distinctly that a more
cheerful and attractive home had been built for £110 than
either of the Metropolitan Associations had produced at a
minimum of £180. On leaving, he expressed himself as
having spent one of the happiest afternoons of his life, as
he had that day seen that which he had been looking for
in vain for many years, viz., a clean, healthy, and desira
ble home for a mechanic, erected at a price that would pay a
fair return on the money invested.
The careful inspection of the friends of the movement,
with which the name of this noble earl is so honourably
associated, are cordially invited to afford the projectors the
benefit of their criticism. It is hoped that it will be easy
to engraft upon the plan as it stands any minor improve
ments that may be suggested by the experience and know
ledge of others.
It should not be forgotten that the buildings now under
review have been erected within a quarter of an hour’s
walk of the Bank of England, and therefore easily within
2
�18
the reach of the large number of artizans employed in
the City of London. This is a most important feature, for
the oftener a man takes his meals at home, and the more
he cultivates a domestic life, the less he is likely to yield
to the flaring attractions of the beershop and the gin
palace : the more he associates with his family, and sub
mits to the gentle influence of little children, the easier
will he be elevated in the social scale, improved as a
neighbour and influenced as a Christian.
Looking down from the beautiful flat roof of Lang
bourn Buildings, the eye-rests upon four or five acres of
ground covered with the most wretched houses, or rather
hovels, the majority of them containing only two rooms each
and having no back windows : the sight is saddening, and
would be most depressing if it were not cheered with a
knowledge that all these vile, tumble-down dwellings, so
close to the heart of the City of London, are now the
property of the Corporation of London, and will in 1867
revert to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners : there is some
hope that one or both of these public bodies, being so
deeply interested in the improvement of the homes of the
labouring classes, may devote a large portion of the site
to the accomplishment of so important an object.
In conclusion, it is possible that the objection may be
raised that the rents of the dwellings in Langbourn
Buildings (0.5. to 6-s. 6<7. per week) are beyond the means of
the working class. The reply to this would be, that, con
tiguous to the spot where this building stands, four other
blocks are to be erected ; and that long before this the first
block was completed, applications were received to a suffi
cient number to have filled the whole of the five blocks had
they been ready, and now that this one is ready for occupa
tion, not a day passes without bringing with it swarms of
eager applicants to be received as tenants at these and even
���APPENDIX.
THE OPENING.
After a minute inspection of the building in every part, and an
examination of the various uses to which the patent material had
been applied, as explained by the builder and inventor, Mr. Allen,
the company adjourned to the flat roof, where refreshments were
served under an awning.
Amongst the noblemen and gentlemen present were :—
Lord Radstock,
Lord Ebury,
W. A. Wilkinson, Esq.,
Samuel Morley, Esq.,
S. Gregson, Esq., M.P.,
C. S. Fortescue, Esq., M.P.,
Fredk. Byng, Esq., M.P.,
Edwin Chadwick, Esq., C.B.,
Wm. Hawes, Esq.,
Hy. Roberts, Esq ,
Benjamin Scott, Esq., F.R.S.S.,
Russell Scott, Esq.,
J. H. Friswell, Esq.,
Rev. W. Denton,
George Godwin, Esq., F.R.S.,
Revd. E. Bayley,
H. Barnett, Esq.,
Thos. Benton. Eso..
W. H. Collingridge, Esq.,
C. Reed, Esq.,
J. C. Colquhoun, Esq.,
Hy. Dawson Esq.,
Robt. Dimsdale, Esq.,
Edward Enfield, Esq.,
C. Gatliff, Esq.,
J. C. Conybeare, Esq.,
A. Haldane, Esq.,
C. J. Hilton, Esq.,
Jno. Hollinshead, Esq.,
H. De Jersey, Esq., C.C.,
D. Simms, Esq., C.C ,
Rev. A. P. Kelley,
W. J. Makwell, Esq.,
Rev. S. Minton,
Jno. Sperling, Esq.,
HrV. Tt TiinrwAll
Ebury.
The noble Chairman said that at the request of Mr. Waterlow he
proposed to say a few words in reference to the object which had
brought them together that day ; but it was a subject so extremely
interesting in itself, and of such extraordinary importance, that it
was really hard to say only a few words upon it. At that high
altitude and somewhat low temperature, however, he would endea
vour to be as brief as possible. Important and absorbing as had
�22
been the events of the past week in connection with the marriage of
the Prince of Wales, fraught as they were with interest to every one
present, and the excitement of which would be still fresh in their
minds, he yet felt that the circumstance which had brought them
together on the top of that house were of deeper interest and of far
more importance than those of which he was quite certain they all
had so lively a recollection, for upon the successful solution of this
great problem the welfare of our town populations entirely depended.
It was a subject upon which, as Lord Shaftesbury had eloquently said,
no man could think or speak too earnestly; for the condition of the
dwellings of the labouring classes was the besetting sin and difficulty
of the time, as it stood in the way of every good moral impression.
He was very sorry that that noble Lord was not present to share
their gratification, but he was quite sure that he would have been
there had it been possible. He saw before him a great number
of gentlemen who with himself had been long labouring in this
cause, and though they had met with somewhat bare success, he
was sure he was but speaking the feelings of all his friends and
fellow-labourers in saying that although they had not achieved
great commercial success, yet the work had not disgusted or
dissatisfied them, because they knew the real good they had effected
among certain classes of the people, and that in the commence
ment of an undertaking with the details and practical working of
which they were not practically acquainted they must expect to meet
with considerable failures. But to-day their interest in that under
taking centred itself in the project before them. He did not know
whether it was too early in the clay to say that the problem was
solved altogether ; but after having very attentively perused
the document which described the building, and having now care
fully inspected the building itself, he must say that, taking the
figures to be correct, and that it was capable of producing a rent
which would give a per-centage of seven or eight per cent, on the
outlay in its erection, a result had been obtained of no slight impor
tance, as it solved the difficulty over which previous experimentalists
had stumbled, and proved that building enterprises of that nature
could be rendered commercially remunerative. There were tides in
the affairs of men,—crises in the development of all great movements.
Buildings (5s. to 6s. 6c/. per week) are beyond the means c
the working- class. The reply to this would be, that, cor
tiguous to the spot where this building stands, lour othi
, 1 -]
J •) _ X J
-1 i 1
rftAll lUVfveti 111 villi
there to criticise the budding in every way, and he could tell him
that he had some severe critics there that day—critics who would
look to the proper accommodation of even the smallest child in the
establishment, and that had in fact been done; indeed,it was neces
sary that all these things should undergo the most careful scrutiny.
He could fairly say for himself, although he did not pretend to
possess the knowledge and experience of some of his friends around
him, that he could really find but little fault. He had looked at it
�23
in the most careful manner—he had felt it with his fingers—he had
walked about it—he had poked it with his umbrella, and he had
asked his friends’ opinion about it; and at that moment he had not.
been able to find anything of any importance to criticise. He was
quite unable to pick a hole in the undertaking, and he thanked God
that he had put it into the heart of a Christian man to do this great
and good work. (Cheers.) He thanked Mr. Waterlow from the
bottom of liis heart for the privilege of being allowed to be present
that day. He felt that this was a movement which laid at the
foundation of all social and religious progress, for it was impossible
to make impressions for good which could have any permanent
effect on the min<ls of the people, surrounded as they were in their
homes with that which tended only to brutalize and degrade. He
begged to propose Mr. Alderman Waterlow’s very good health.
(Loud cheers.)
In responding to the toast, Mr. Alderman Waterlow thanked
the noblemen and gentlemen present for their attendance there that
day and for their kind appreciation of his endeavours. He said that
his object in asking them there was twofold—first, of obtaining the
advice and criticism of men far better acquainted with the subject than
himself, before proceeding to the further development of his scheme ;
and he hoped also that the result of assembling together so many
distinguished philanthropists would be, that they would not separate
without laying the foundation of some broad and comprehensive
scheme for giving further stimulus to this most important movement,
in which he had endeavoured to render some assistance. He would
not dwell upon that which the Chairman had already urged with so
much clearness, as to the necessity of improving the domestic con
dition of the people before hoping to effect anything in the way of a
permanent moral reform, but he would <ask how much of the great
increase of that form of crime which was designated the social evil
owed its origin to the over-crowded and immoral huddling together
of the sexes. So long, too, as the working classes were compelled
to live in close, inconvenient, badly devised and overcrowded dwell
ings, it was impossible to make them thoroughly feel and appreciate
the great truths of the Bible. He was thoroughly convinced that
before the preaching and teaching of ministers of religion could have
that beneficial effect on the labouring classes which they all lookedfc >r ■
ward to, that the demoralizing influences which now surrounded the
poor in the condition of their homes must be removed. So strongly
had this been seen of late, that vigorous attempts had been made to
improve the dwellings of the poor. Without referring in detail to
the great efforts that had been already put forth in various quarters,
he would go at once to that which was undoubtedly the great diffi
culty of the matter—the apparent impossibility of obtaining a good
return on the outlay incurred in the erection of Improved Dwellings.
It was because of this failure of remuneration that capitalists could
not be found willing to continue the erection of such dwellings. He
wanted to show that 8 or 9 per cent. CQuld be obtained by the adoption of the present plan. He was constantly referred to the practical
�24
results realized by the Metropolitan Associations, and was told that
the return he predicted looked better on paper than would eventually
tarn out; but the Metropolitan Associations were the pioneers of
the movement—they had had to contend with and conquer diffi
culties which would now be avoided—they had gradually acquired
an experience of which others were reaping the profit; and their
own accounts showed a return of 4| per cent, on the Family Dwell
ings erected in St. Pancras Square on a cost of erection at the
rate of £160 per dwelling, but here the cost of such a dwelling
would be only £110, and the same rents were obtained: there
fore it was obvious that that which returned 4J per cent, on
£160 would amount to 7 per cent, on £110. But the average
return on the operations of the Metropolitan Association was not
encouraging. This society had spent about £80,000, and had
only realized a return of about 2| per cent. He felt certain that
it was on this point that he was able to demonstrate a remedy.
It was simply a question of reducing the cost of dwellings to such
a sum that the amount received by their rental should form a good
and encouraging return on the outlay. It was absurd to suppose
that the great body of working people were to be allowed to depend
on the efforts of charitable people to provide them with homes.
He was quite prepared, if any gentlemen were desirous of proof,
to show that these buildings, which were certainly quite equal to
those of St. Pancras, could be erected in any number for £110
each. He would say one word as to locality : he believed it to be a
m atter of the most essential importance, both as a matter of economy
and policy, that the working man’s home should be near enough to
his work to enable him to take every meal with his family ; it was
better, cheaper, and more comfortable in every respect. He believed
that the more a man was Subjected to home influences of a healthy
kind, the less he was likely to succumb to the flaring attractions of
the gin palaces. One of the best possible localities, he thought,
for carrying out an experiment of this kind was that in which they
then were,the freehold of which belonged to the Ecclesiastical Com
missioners, and held by the Corporation of the City of London, on
a jease expiring in 1867. If those two powerful bodies could be
influenced to give preference in reletting the ground to the pro
moters of a movement having for its object the removal of the
wretched hovels they saw around them, and the replacing them
with dwellings of a similar character to that on which they then
stood, a great advantage would be gained. The importance of such a
movement was admitted on all hands, and he thought that he had now
proved its feasibility. He did not, for one moment, mean it to be
understood that they were desirous of obtaining possession of the
ground on more favourable terms than others ; all that he wanted was,
the assurance of an ordinary lease on the ordinary terms at the
ordinary market value of the ground. In the present case, the ground
rent was twice that which it ought to be, in consequence of his
having had to negotiate with and pay large premiums to persons who
stood between himself and the freeholders. He would add a word
�25
or two further, before sitting down, when he would be prepared,
and anxious, to answer any question which might be put to him. The
piece of ground of which he had obtained possession was sufficient for
the erection of ninety homes such as they had just inspected, by
the removal of 32 two-roomed houses such as those around him ;
he felt that in the erection of these ninety homes, and in thus
assisting to prove the possibility of making such undertakings pay,
he was doing as much as could be properly expected of him as a
private individual; but he could not sit down without saying, that, in
his opinion, the figures and facts he had brought forward made out
a proper case for the operations of a public company, a body having
a large capital divided into two classes, the protected capital and the
unprotected capital, the former bearing a fixed rate of interest, 4 per
cent., the latter taking the commercial risk and the rest of the
profit. He made this suggestion because he was told, on very good
authority, that there were plenty of people who, if they could be
guaranteed a fixed rate of 4 per cent., would be glad to invest large
sums of money in such an undertaking; and he believed that the
public would be readily tempted to take up the unprotected capital,,
on the prospect of obtaining 10 or 12 per cent, for their money.
In this case he showed a return of over 9 per cent., even under the
disadvantage of the high ground-rent which he had mentioned 'r
but if they thought this overestimated, let them strike off 20
or 25 per cent., as a discount on his statements ; that would then
leave them more than 6 per cent., and the difference between
that and 4 per cent., which would have to be paid on the protected
capital, would bring up the other half—the unprotected capital—
to 9 per cent. If the suggestion was thought worth acting on, he
would be only too happy to do all in his power to carry it out.
He, was sure that there were many gentlemen present who were
able to offer valuable advice and criticism, and he assured them
that he was very anxious to hear everything they might have tosay. He begged to thank them heartily for the honour they did
him in drinking his health, and to express the great pleasure he
derived in seeing so many friends of the working classes present on
the occasion.
Edwin Hill, Esq., as an old director of the Metropolitan Associa
tion, claimed the privilege of saying a few words. He said that
the physical and moral good created by the erection of such a
building as the present extended far beyond its own area, as it
acted as a most powerful competitor with the dirty, squalid habita
tions by which it was surrounded, and that in many cases the
landlords of the latter had been compelled in self interest to
imitate the good example of cleanliness set by these kind of dwell
ings. He felt, moreover, that such a home greatly conduced tothe moral purity of its inmates.
Edwin Chadwick, Esq., C.B., said there could not be a doubt that
these buildings were a very large stride in economy of construction,
and that if the same economy had been enforced by the Metropo
litan Association they would have had 7 or 8 per cent. All the
�26
medical officers of health would agree with him that this building
was perfectly fever proof if they took care to prevent two people
occupying space intended only for one. This building might be
looked upon as well adapted to the requirements of the
Earl of Shaftesbury’s provision, that in future railway com
panies proposing to pull down a number of dwellings should be
compelled to erect a proportionate number of others in their place.
It was plain, in fact, that the railway companies would probably
make more money by the erection of such buildings than by the
construction of their lines.
Lord Radstock thought that as the gentlemen invested with the
disposition of Mr. Peabody’s munificent gift appeared to be
undecided as to how to apply it, it might go with some force
to them if those present were to unite in suggesting to them,
that before making any arrangement for its disposition they
should, at any rate, give this matter their most careful considera
tion. He was quite sure that any representation from such an
influential body of gentlemen as those then present would be apt to
attract more attention on the part of the trustees than would be
likely to be awakened by merely seeing the reports in the news
papers.
Mr. Alderman Waterlow had hoped that the trustees of the
Peabody Fund would have dealt with it in a different way, and he
thought that instead of turning their attention to building homes, it
would be better if they applied the money to the purchase of sites, to
be let at nominal reuts, under a stringent covenant that the lease
should be instantly void if the ground was at any time used for any
other purpose than providing dwellings for the poor. They would
thus be offering most direct inducements for the construction of good,
healthy, well-built dwellings; the ground would be constantly
increasing in value, and would remain in perpetuity as the poor
man’s site.
J. C. Conybeare, Esq., had been long convinced that the only
remedy for the existing evils was the use of some material which
would at once effect a great reduction in the prune cost of construc
tion, and he felt that that was obtained in the present building.
With regard to the proper carrying out of any undertaking for the
complete development of this very valuable idea, he would much
prefer to see it left in the hands of a London Aiderman ; he would
be glad to see it worked by a philanthropic citizen, aided by his
commercial and mercantile fellows of the citizen world of England.
It required to be taken up and prosecuted entirely as a business
matter. He would be sorry to see the Peabody Fund applied to
building any of these houses, but he thought that the suggestion
as to its acquiring sites was a remarkably good one. He was anxious
that something should be done, too, for the improvement of the
cottages of England ; he could speak from experience of the fact
that they were in a most disgraceful condition in several counties.
Samvel Morley, Esq., in moving the first resolution, “ That this
meeting having inspected Mr. Aiderman Waterlow’s model building
�27
ancl listened to the explanations afforded, is of opinion that the very
best moral and social results, and very fair expectations of an ample
return on the capital invested, would result from, the erection of
such buildings,” said, he had very great pleasure in meeting then
Lordships and the gentlemen present on that occasion for he could
not doubt that if the statements they had heard and the figures put
forward in the balance-sheet were borne out by the facts a great
stride had been made in the subject which laid so close to the great
social questions of the day. He joinedmost heartily in the encomiums
that had been pronounced upon the building.. He thought that the
builder had in a very prominent manner exhibited a degree of talent
in designing, and attention to his work in executing it, whic 1
deserved to be taken notice of by them, and that, at any rate, he
ought to receive the expression of their respectfid admiration. He
had read with great interest the pamphlet with which lie supposed
they had all been provided, and he quite agreed with the writer m
insisting that attention should be paid to the provision of every
necessary accessory of a home to the exclusive use of a single letting.
He sympathized also with the respectful attention, which it demanded,
to the comforts of the working-man. He would have been glad to
have seen the fulfilment of the promise which the late Mr. Pearson
made, by which arrangements could be made for large numbers ot
workmen living out of town. With regard to the rents, he accepted
the explanation offered in the pamphlet on that subject, andlie thought
at, the same time that the accommodation was well worth what was
charged. He was entirely in favour of carrying the matter further
under private supervision, and he was quite prepared to go into le
matter if Aiderman Waterlow would put himself at the head of such
an undertaking. He should go into it with a clear and distinct
expectation of receiving a good return on his capital. The amount
of money which could be used iu connection with such a scheme was
perfectly enormous, and he believed it could now be most, profitably
applied in this way.
.
m-Datn
The City Chamberlain (Benjamin Scott, Esq., f .K.b.b.) naci
great pleasure in seconding the resolution He did not know
whether he had been invited there in his official capacity or not,
but he felt that he should not be unduly committing himself, or the
other members of the Corporation who were present, in stating
that in the event of his advice being required as to whether the invest
ment of a portion of the Corporation’s large funds m this undertaking
was advisable, he should have no hesitation whatever in saying that,
in his opinion, such an investment would be a highly safe and proper
one, and that it would be likely to be productive, at the same time,
of the greatest moral and social benefit to the people of the metro
polis. They had gone into the consideration of the question some
years since, and obtained powers from Parliament to apply a large
portion of their spare capital in the erection of Improved Dwellings.
The question had, however, remained m abeyance, m consequence
of their finding they could not build them at a remunerative rate.
The building to which their attention was then directed, how
�28
ever, would, no doubt, lead to a revival of the subject. This building,
so far as his observation went, was a return to a practice uni
versal in the ancient world, and general at the present time in the
eastern world, of availing themselves of the pure air and light of
heaven which were to be obtained at the elevated position in which
they stood. Medical men would tell them that the cheerful
influence of the solar rays, and the refreshing breezes, were of as
much importance to health as a proper supply of good food and pure
water. He saw no reason why we should not, as far as possible,
adopt the salutary practice of the Turk, of constantly frequenting
the housetop.
Henry Roberts, Esq., F.R.S., said that he wished to give ex
pression to the great interest and satisfaction with which he had
gone over this building. It seemed to him to be one of the fruits
produced by the small building erected by His Royal Highness
Prince Albert at the Exhibition of 1851. He had seen that build
ing repeated in various forms, not only in the United Kingdom, but
in many places on the Continent; and he now saw the same build
ing extended and repeated here. Here were the open staircase and
gallery—the fire-proof floors and the flat roof—all of which were
leading features in the lamented Prince Consort’s model dwellings.
He was quite sure that, if they knew as he did, the great interest
with which His Royal Highness devoted himself to the subject,
they would feel especial pleasure in finding that this building was
a further development of the excellences which were so notice
able in those model dwellings of 1851. He would take that oppor
tunity of testifying to the fact that up to the closing scene of his
eventful life the subject before them had been to Prince Albert
one of unflagging interest.
Mr. Robert Cranston supported the resolution, and dwelt with
great force on his experience in connection with the erection of
buildings of a similar class in Edinburgh. He was prepared to
show a clear return of 8 per cent, as the result of his investments.
If a proper plan were adopted in the first instance, and a suitable
locality chosen, he could not have the slightest doubt that this re
turn might be always obtained. He might state that he was origi
nally himself a practical builder, and Mr. Allen had kindly allowed
him access to the figures in connection with this undertaking, and
in the presence of these and his own experience he hoped to hear
no more of the operations of charitable associations, as the necessity
for their help in the matter had now passed away, and it would be
only a matter of time to apply the natural remedy which was now
happily attained.
The resolution on being put from the chair was carried unani
mously.
W. A. Wilkinson, Esq. proposed the health of the noble Chair
man, and bore testimony to the readiness with which he associated
himself with every movement of a progressive nature.
The toast having been drank,
The Chairman thanked the gentlemen present for the compli
�29
ment, and said that the work in which they were engaged was bound
to go forward ; it had received an impetus that day which would
not allow of the question standing still any longer. There was one
omission to which he felt bound to call the worthy Alderman’s at
tention. He had invited only gentlemen to be present that day.
Now, the ladies were quite as much interested in the question, and,
whether they knew it or not, he believed that they had a great deal
more influence in it than the gentlemen. (Cheers.)
Mr. Alderman Waterlow explained that the building would
remain open for public inspection for two or three weeks, and he
hoped that would afford a better opportunity for ladies to inspect it.
The Chairman continued. There was a duty before them which
he was sure all would gladly discharge. They had inspected the
whole of this building, and were delighted with the completeness ofits arrangement in every part; but they ought to be mindful of the
fact that that which gave them so much pleasure to see realized
had been a matter of long-continued patient thought and effort on
the part of Mr. Allen. He could quite understand that there must
have been an enormous amount of really laborious work in re
arranging, and altering, and turning about in every way. He proposed
that they should drink the health of the architect and builder, Mr.
Allen, and wish success to the project which had been suggested.
The toast was drank with great cordiality.
Mr. Allen thanked their lordships and the gentlemen present
for the kind manner in which his name had been referred to, and
for the honour they had just done him. He could assure them
that this building had been a matter of the greatest anxiety and
interest to him for the past three or four years, but now that it was
completed he felt that it amply rewarded him for all the time he
had bestowed upon it. He was now only anxious that the number
of them should be greatly increased, and after what had been said
that day he had no doubt that the matter would be placed in
the hands of men capable of ensuring it the success which he was
proud to believe it deserved. (Cheers.)
The Chairman said that the whole subject seemed to him one of
such vital importance in every way that he proposed to ask the
Rev. Samuel Minton, with Mr. Waterlow’s permission, to offer a few
words of prayer for its success.
The Rev. S. Minton having complied with this request the com
pany dispersed.
���HEALTHY DWELLINGS FOR THE INDUSTRIAL
CLASSES,
LANGBOURN BUILDINGS, MARK STREET, PAUL STREET, FINSBURY SQUARE.
Designed and erected by Mr. Matthew Allen, for Mr. Alderman Wateri.ow.
��Ground Plan af a Flat, Nos. 1 and 4 having Four! Rooms, and Nos. 2 and 3 Three Rooms in each Letting.
The coloured parts indicate that the floors are constructed of Alien’s patent fireproof material, of which also the staircases and roofs are composed.
References: A-Wash-house
W
*_________________ ,_______________ _
___________________________________ ___________________ 56' 3‘
W
F' External Staircase
_____________________________________________________________________________________
HEALTHY DWELLINGS FOR THE INDUSTRIAL CLASSES,
LANGBOURN BUILDINGS, MARK STREET, PAUL STREET, FINSBURY SQUARE.
Designed and erected by Mr. Matthew Allen, for Mr. Alderman Waterlow
�
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Title
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Victorian Blogging
Description
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Title
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Improved dwellings for the industrial classes: ground plan and elevation of Langbourn Buildings, Mark Street, Paul Street, Finsbury Square, designed and erected for Alderman Waterlow by Mr. Matthew Allen, with descriptive notes, and an appendix by J.A Mays
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 29 p. : ill. (2 folded plates) ; 20 cm.
Notes: Incomplete: p.15/16, part cut away; p. 19/20 removed; p. 21/22 part cut away. From the library of Dr Moncure Conway,
Creator
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Mays, J.A.
Date
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1863
Publisher
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Robert Hardwicke
Subject
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Housing
Social problems
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<img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br /><span>This work (Improved dwellings for the industrial classes: ground plan and elevation of Langbourn Buildings, Mark Street, Paul Street, Finsbury Square, designed and erected for Alderman Waterlow by Mr. Matthew Allen, with descriptive notes, and an appendix by J.A Mays), identified by </span><span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk">Humanist Library and Archives</a></span><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
Identifier
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G5396
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application/pdf
Type
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Text
Language
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English
Conway Tracts
Housing
Langbourn Buildings - London
London
Sidney Hedley Waterlow
Social Problems
Working Classes