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Housing, mobility and the measurement of child health from the 1911 Irish census

Housing, mobility and the measurement of child health from the 1911 Irish census

The study community

The city of Belfast has been chosen partly due to the availability of machine-readable data, but also because it had a diverse industrial base of linen and tobacco manufacture, ship-building and heavy engineering among other industries, and a fascinating social and religious mix. The city grew rapidly throughout the nineteenth century, and although housing stock within Belfast was better than in some other Irish cities, such as Dublin, there were still considerable problems with housing and health. Newer housing was built to minimum requirements, with a sewer system not established until the last quarter of the nineteenth century, and older slum dwellings survived well into the twentieth century. Growth was slower by the early years of the twentieth century, with little inner-city redevelopment. Infant mortality in Belfast was high in comparison to Ireland as a whole, but not as high as in Dublin. In 1901 Infant mortality in both Irish cities was at similar levels to that in large English and Scottish industrial cities, but declines in the Irish cities did not keep pace with those of the cities on the other side of the Irish Sea.

Diagram