People in the Victorian era were much better at collating data than the people who came before them. For example, in 1842, 57% of all children in Manchester died before their fifth birthday. While, social surveys from the time illustrate family living conditions; the whole family often lived in one room, or cellars that were prone to flooding and people shared beds, toilets and water supplies.

Highly contagious diseases, such as typhoid, diarrhoea, smallpox, tuberculosis, whopping cough, scarlet fever, measles and chicken pox, spread quickly in these overcrowded and poor sanitised conditions.

New industrial diseases:

Young boys who climbed up chimneys to clean them out came into contact with gases and soot. An English surgeon, Percivall Pott, diagnosed scrotal cancer amongst many of these young boys. 'Phossy jaw', caused by exposure to phosphorus, also developed amongst young women who were making matches in factories. Pneumoconiosis was a lung disease that miners contracted from inhaling large amounts of dust underground. Moreover, there were few regulations regarding working conditions and accidents were common.