Expenditure

Rent:-

Booth and Rowntree wrote extensively on rent, Rowntree especially devoted a whole chapter to the costs and construction of ‘back-to-backs’ in York. It is undoubtably true that over-crowding is connected to the inability of working-class families to rent houses to offer adequate accommodation. Booth determined that high rents were paid mainly due to the fact the head of the family needed to be near their place of work.

      For my analysis I will use Shergold’s figures in Table 35 on the right, which showed average weekly rents (in US currency) He cross referenced this figures with the Birmingham Special Housing Inquiry and concluded the typical rent for three rooms in 1913 ranged to be from 3.5 to 5s per week.

The British Newspaper Archive website proves to be a valuable resource. In an advanced search within the Birmingham Post for advertisements only in Nechells Ward in 1900, a notable find emerged. On April 4th, 1900, an advertisement featured the sale of 8 properties—4 in Nechell Park Road and 4 in Railway Terraces. Each property brought in an annual rent of 7.67s, totaling £73 9s. With 20 shillings to the £1, this equates to 1469s per year, divided by 8 properties, resulting in a weekly rental cost of 3.5s. This detailed information offers insights into the rental landscape in Nechells Ward during that period.