[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Woolwich].

  • Woolwich (London, England). Metropolitan Borough.
Date:
[1929?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Woolwich]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    16/182 (page 14)
    14 Social Conditions. Woolwich may be described as one of the suburban working.class metropolitan boroughs. It com prises the three Civil Parishes of Woolwich, Plumstead and Eltham, and its area is 8,282 statute acres. In Woolwich Parish there are 1,135 acres; in Plumstead, 3,387 acres; and in Eltham, 3,760 acres. The River Thames covers approxi mately an additional 645 acres. Much of the Borough is unbuilt on and the number of persons per acre varies from 10 in Eltham to 31 in Woolwich, the general average of the Borough being 17. Population. The Registrar General estimates the total population of the Borough at the 30th June, 1928, as 146,600. This is the highest estimate since the end of the war. The figures include the military, and in order to obtain the civilian population it is necessary to make a reduction of 5,500, which is the estimated number of non.civilians. The civilian popu lation, therefore, is estimated to be 141,100. In 1926, the civilian population was estimated by the Registrar General as 141,900. Compared with 1927 the civilian population is estimated to show an increase of only 330. For the reasons which were given in my annual report for 1927, I am unable to understand these figures. To my mind the estimates thus furnished are below the true figure, and my estimate of the population of the Borough at the middle of 1928 was 147,130, but, as the practice in recent years has been to accept the figures of the Registrar.General for comparative statistical purposes, his figures have again been adopted this year, and populations of the registration districts of the Borough have been calculated. It has been necessary in these calculations to make allowance for transfers which have taken place under the Council's housing scheme from Woolwich and Plumstead to Eltham, and figures are available to shew that over 7,000 persons have moved from these districts to the Council's housing estate. Internal movement of the population in the