Nineteenth Century
During the nineteenth century Lambeth continued to develop as a centre of light industry with a population explosion fed by mass immigration from the countryside and from Ireland. Between 1801 and 1831 the population of Lambeth more than trebled, and ten years later had increased from 87,856 to 105,883. Increasingly bleak social conditions and some of London’s worst slums were an inevitable consequence of the accelerating industrialisation and the ensuing population surge. As well as appallingly overcrowded housing, the working class areas of Victorian London were also associated with outbreaks of contagious disease. Between 1800 and 1830, cheap ill-drained housing was built on the low areas of Lambeth Marsh and rapidly led to a spate of cholera epidemics. During four months in 1849, in just two streets, 544 people died of cholera, and the annual average recorded death rate in the area was 1,690.
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Old Buildings at Lambeth, 1831
© London Metropolitan Archives, 2002 |
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Fore Street, Lambeth, C19
© London Metropolitan Archives, 2002 |
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The second half of the nineteenth century witnessed a number of social reforms in London. The Metropolitan Board of Works was established in 1855 as the first authority in London to deal with public health, and had the power to provide main sewerage systems, street improvements, and slum clearance. The Metropolitan Poor Act of 1867 forced all London parishes to come under the control of Boards of Guardians who provided workhouse infirmaries and hospitals for the treatment of infectious diseases, thus relieving many of the most chronic problems. The building of Waterloo Station during the 1840s resulted in the clearance of some slum areas in Lambeth. However, many survived into the early twentieth century until the 1890 Housing of the Working Classes Act led to more intensive slum clearance programmes, and the destruction wrought by the Blitz eradicated those that remained.
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Upper Ground Place, 1923. Slum Buildings prior to demolition
© London Metropolitan Archives, 2002 |
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Upper Ground Place, 1923. Slum Buildings prior to demolition
© London Metropolitan Archives, 2002 |
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