In St. George-in-the-East, the Medical Officer of Health stated that:--
"The decrease of population was due to houses being taken by a railway company, by the Poor Law Guardians for an infirmary, for a church, &c."
How considerable the clearances were in some districts may be inferred from the figures given by the Medical Officer of Health for St. Giles' in 1871.
"The clearances in the City of London for the purposes of erecting a new market, and a viaduct, and in the Strand district to form a site for the proposed Law Courts, have aggravated the evil of overcrowding. To effect these improvements (or chiefly so) the large number of 18,358 persons have been removed. Strand, 6,998; St. Sepulchre (City), 4,188; St. Bride (City), 4,211; Saffron Hill, 2,961."
And in St. Olave, on the south side of the river, the Medical Officer of Health wrote:--
"Since the census of 1861, 436 houses have been pulled down, clearing away whole streets and courts for the formation of railways and the extension of warehouses, displacing 961 families comprising 3,556 persons."
Consequent upon these clearances, and the people having to find dwelling room somewhere, the transition of houses built for a single family into tenement-houses continued in full swing.
The Medical Officer of Health for St. Mary, Newington, reported (1873) that year by year the better class of houses were becoming less and less inhabited by a single family.
The Medical Officer of Health for Paddington gave a very clear description of the process.
"There is a very dense packing of population," he wrote (1873), and he mentioned some instances:--
"Brindley Street with 801 persons living in 65 houses. Hampden Street " 876 " " 78 " Waverley Road " 900 " " 72 "
"Builders intended these houses at first for one respectable family, but ... in violation of common sense and decency they are let out in tenements and single rooms, without those essential conditions of a dwelling which landlords should in all instances be compelled to provide.
"There is yet in reality no law to prevent the creation of unhealthy districts as long as five or six families are allowed to live in one house intended for a single family.... Houses should be built with reference to the future health of the people who will have to live in them.