Recently digitised census data from 1961 has unearthed dramatic lifestyle changes in Clapham over the last 50 years.

Hygiene

According to the Office for National Statistics, as many as 16.71% of homes in Wandsworth (the Metropolitan Borough Clapham then belonged to) did not have a 'fixed bath' in 1961 – in others words, a bath inside a house with waste water plumbing.

Instead of filling a bath with running tap water, these households would have used a bucket to pour hot water into a free-standing tub.

Also, toilets inside homes were still not a given in 1961. In England and Wales, around 7% of homes did not have an indoor toilet. Clapham was well above the national average however, with only 0.39% of homes without a flushing loo.

Home ownership

Comparing tenure in 1961 to 2011*, there has been a rise in home ownership and a decrease in renting.

In 1961, in the whole Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth, 25% of homes were owned, 51% were privately rented and 21% were owned by the council.

In 2011, 44.8% were owned, 30.7% were rented and 13% were owned by the council.

• Note: Percentages do not sum to 100% as housing categories incomparable between 1961 and 2011 not included

Population

While the population in England and Wales increased and became proportionally older between 1961 and 2011, the population in Wandsworth paints a slightly different picture.

In 1961, the biggest age bracket people living in Wandsworth belonged to was 45-49, with 26,641 people aged in their late forties. Combined with the borough's second largest age bracket, 50-54, just over 50,000 people in Wandsworth were in their late forties or early fifties.

By 2011, the number of people in their late twenties living in Wandsworth had more than doubled, with 49,219 residents aged 25-29. This was the borough's biggest age bracket, closely followed by the cohort in their early thirties which had similarly more than doubled. Combined, there were 93,714 people in Wandsworth aged in their late twenties or early thirties.

Divorce

These statistics are not localised to the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth, but they do give a broader picture of social change over the last five decades.

In 1961, 68% of people aged 16 and over were married, and 0.8% were divorced.

In 2011, 49% of people aged 16 and over were married or in a same-sex civil partnership, and 9% were divorced or in a legally dissolved civil partnership.

Explore Census Unearthed to see 50 years of change from 1961 across England and Wales.

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