Hi Celia,
I was fortunate enough NOT to live in Back to Backs but the rest of my maternal and paternal family did.
I remember staying at various cousins homes in Newtown, Aston, Hockley and Ladywood , they all lived in Back to Backs... there was a shared toilet ... no sanitaton, no hot running water, a rickety spiral staircase leading up to the two (if you were really lucky) bedrooms, bedrooms damp, cold and even had holes knocked through walls to next door so cousin (could hold hands with boy next door!!) . The Friday night bath was a tin bath put in front of living room/lounge/dining room (there are only two rooms downstairs - kitchen /scullery and living room) .. if you were really lucky then there was enough money to light the coal fire so you could keep warm while you had your bath .
The back to backs in Inge Street do not reflect the poverty, deprevation and general unsanitary conditions endured by many people living in back to backs... It was not just an early 1900 problem... I am talking about my cousins living in Back to Backs in the mid 1960.s !!!!