Report on back-to-back houses : a report on relative mortality in through and back-to-back houses in certain towns in the West Riding of Yorkshire / by L.W. Darra Mair ; with an introduction by the Medical Officer of the Board ; presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of His Majesty.

  • Mair, Ludovic William Darra, 1866-1912.
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Report on back-to-back houses : a report on relative mortality in through and back-to-back houses in certain towns in the West Riding of Yorkshire / by L.W. Darra Mair ; with an introduction by the Medical Officer of the Board ; presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of His Majesty. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    17/55 (page 13)
    the average rent of the back-to-back houses, the two types of houses were inhabited by working people of similar class and engaged in similar work. y. Houses, Rents, Population and Mortality in the Selected Areas. In Table I. in the Appendix are set forth the number of houses in each of the areas which were selected for comparison, the. average number of persons per house in each area, and the average weekly rent in each area. The total number of houses in all the areas was 3,996, of which 3,865 were occupied at the time the special census was taken, and 131 or rather more than 3 per cent, were unoccupied. Of the occupied houses 1,567 were through houses, and 2,298 back-to-back houses, and of the latter 515 were houses which possessed substantial means of ventilation from the side as well as from the front of the house (“blocks of four”), while the remainder, 1,783, were back-to- back houses in rows which possessed means of window ventila- tion from the front wall only. The proportion of unoccupied through and back-to-back houses was about the same, rather more than 3 per cent., but the proportion of unoccupied back- to-back houses in rows was somewhat higher—namely, 4 per cent. The average number of persons per house ranged from 3-4 to 4'9 in the case of through houses, and from 3‘3 to 4'1 in the case of back-to-back houses, the average in all the areas being 4‘3 and 3‘8 respectively. In the case of back-to-back houses with side ventilation the average number per house was a little larger (4'0) than in the other type of back-to-back house. These figures indicate that the through houses were, on the whole, somewhat more commodious than the back-to-back houses, especially than those built in rows, and this inference is confirmed by comparison of the weekly rents. Notwithstand- ing the careful exclusion of through houses which were not comparable with the back-to-back houses, the average weekly rent of the through houses was materially higher than that of the back-to-back houses in each of the areas. The average rent in all the areas combined was 5s. 6d. in the case of through houses and 4s. 6d. in the case of back-to-back houses. The average rent of the latter having side ventilation was a little higher and that of back-to-back houses built in rows was a little lower than 4s. 6d. Another analysis of the details as to weekly rents shows that while the bulk (89 per cent.) of the back-to-back houses were rented at sums ranging from 3s. 6d. to 5s. 6d. per week, the bulk (88 per cent.) of the through houses were rented at 4s. 6d. and upwards. The populations of the different areas are shown in Table II. in the Appendix. In this table are set forth in detail the number of inhabitants of each area, classified according to sex and age in eleven age groups, and according to their residence