York: A Study, Rowntree & Poverty

The City of York

• Pop = 78,000 by 1900
• Ouse and Foss
• City centre within the Roman-Medieval Walls.

Housing

• Wide variation in standard of living.
  • Wealthy lived in suburbs.
  • Workers lived in terraced streets.
  • Poorest lived in slums.
• 3/4 of York houses had four or more rooms (above national average).

Utilities

• Better houses had:
  • Private water taps.
  • Toilets.
  • Gas / Electricity supply.
• 1890s:
  • Sewer system built, sewage now treated rather than thrown in the river.
  • Most houses in slum areas shared water standpipes and midden privies.
• 1897: Municipal supply of electricity began.

Communications

• York was well placed at the centre of the North-Eastern Railway network.
• Ouse and Foss both navigable.
• System of horse-drawn trams connected suburbs to city centre.
• Electric trams introduced in 1910.

People of York

• Tripled since 1830 by 1900.
• c.70% of York's population was 'working class'.
• Known as an orderly and calm city.
• Population concerns:
  • Concerns for 'physical efficiency' of the British population.
  • Nutrition, health and morality questioned.

Health

• Death rates in York lower than national average.
  • But the rates in slums were double national average.
• Poorest areas lacked sanitation or fresh water.
  • Disease rife, affecting wage earners.
• Improvements:
  • Public baths.
  • Sewage improvements.
  • New cemetaries.
  • Local medical officer.
• County Hospital & Fever Hospital.

Working Classes

• York did…