Public Health 1800-1914

Why was it an issue?
1. Over-population
2. Low income
  1. Poverty
    1. Lived without proper sanitation
      1. 'Privies'
        Holes in the ground
        Badly constructed
        Waste often leaked underground
      2. Water often gathered from areas near privies
        Cross infection between human waste and drinking water
        Cholera
        Impossible to stop
        Spread rapidly
        'King Cholera'
        Typhoid
    2. Ate, cooked and slept in filth
3. Factory Towns
  1. More crowding
    1. Vast slums of bad quality houses were built
      1. Cramped and dirty conditions
        Meant that disease could spread rapidly amongst many people at once
  2. Caused conditions to worsen
Why was nothing done?
1. Laissez-faire
  1. 'Let it be'
  2. Politicians believed in not interfering
  3. People should help themselves
2. When government tried to act their was often opposition
  1. By those worried about the cost of improving Britain's health
3. Cholera outbreaks
  1. 1831
  2. 1848
  3. 1853
  4. 1866
  5. Killed thousands
  6. Forced something to be done about public health
4. Reform Act
  1. 1867
  2. All men could vote
    1. 1868
  3. Divided opinion in Liberal Party
    1. William Gladstone (traditional Liberal) - opposing and siding with the Consecutive government
5. Bad understanding
  1. Florence Nightingale - Edwin Chadwick
    1. Believed problems were caused by 'miasmas'
      1. Bad smells in the air
What changed people's minds?
1. Edwin Chadwick
  1. Report of the Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Population of Great Britian
    1. 1842
  2. Proved living conditions among the poor were the cause of disease
  3. Challenged the idea of it being too expensive to do anything
    1. Highlighted the amount of money lost due to early deaths
2. Public Health Act
  1. 1848
  2. Set up organisations to deal with public health
  3. Little money
  4. No power
3. John Snow
  1. 1854
  2. Diagnosed that disease centred on a public water pump
    1. Proved poor sanitation was the cause of disease
  3. Defeated outbreak by disabling the pump
    1. Replace the pump handle a year later
4. 1858
  1. The Great Stink
    1. Forced government into decisive action
    2. Very hot summer cause muck and waste to stink
What action was taken?
1. Various laws
  1. Artisans and Labourers Dwellings Improvements Act
    1. Enabled local councils to purchase areas of slums to destroy and rebuild them in more sanitary conditions
    2. 1875
    3. Joseph Chamberlain
      1. Improved living conditions for his urban poor
      2. Birmingham mayor
    4. Cadbury and Lever family
      1. Designed entire villages so their workers had somewhere healthy to live
        Very popular
        'Model Villages'
    5. Employers took a percentage of wages to supply schooling, medical care, and good housing
      1. Employers gained healthier, happier, and more loyal workforce
  2. Rivers Pollution Prevention Act
    1. 1876
    2. To limit the amount of sewage pouring into rivers
      1. The Thames
        People's primary source of drinking water
  3. Food and Drugs Act
    1. 1875
    2. Made it a criminal offence to adulterate food o drink
2. The Great Stink
  1. Joseph Bazalgette
    1. Rebuilt London's sewers
      1. Kept London well plumbed until the present day
3. Parliament
  1. Strengthed 1848 Public Health Act
    1. 1875
    2. Forced local authorities to have frequent medical and sanitary inspections
      1. Made it illegal to build shoddy housing and slums
Was the problem solved?
1. No
2. Charles Booth
  1. Sanitation improved, living standards still very low
    1. Life and Labour of The People In London
      1. 1889
      2. Poverty that was impossible to get out of
        Seebohm Rowntree
        Confirmed this in Poverty: A Study In Town Life
        Also proved poverty affected most British towns
        Almost a third of families in Yorkwere unable to buy basic foodstuffs
        Left children in squalor, malnourished and chronically underfed
        Both were convinced poverty was the cause of Britain's low life expectancy and poor public health
        The poor of Victorian Britain lived in fear of being forced into the workhouse
        Workhouses
        Originated in 1600's
        Built to give the very poor accommodation and employment
        Conditions
        Incredibly harsh
        Very long work days
        Terrible jobs
        Bad food
        Inhabitants lived segregated from their families
        1860's
        More built
        Became an almost inescapable part of growing old when poor
        Challenged views of Britain's dominant liberal politicians
        Lead to 'New Lberalism'
3. Boer War
  1. Scared politicians
  2. Men applying for army were physically unfit
    1. Chronic malnutrition or disease
  3. 1899

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Public Health 1800-1914

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