Public Health 1800-1914

Why was it an issue?
1. Overpopulation, low income, poverty
2. Factory Towns - more crowding, vast slums of bad quality, cramped and dirty conditions, disease could spread rapidly, caused conditions to worsen
3. Lived without proper sanitation, ate, cooked, and slept in filth
4. Privies - holes in the ground, badly constructed, waste often leaked underground
5. Water gathered from areas near privies
  1. Cross infection between human waste and drinking water caused cholera and tphoid
Why was nothing done?
1. Laissez-faire - Belief that people should help themselves and politicians should not interfere
2. When the government tried to act there was often opposition, by those worried about the cost of improving Britain's health
3. Cholera outbreaks: 1831, 1848, 1853, 1866. Forced something to be done about public health
4. Reform Act - 1867
  1. All men could vote - 1868
  2. Divided opinion in Liberal Party
    1. William Gladstone (traditional Liberal) - opposing and siding with the Consecutive government
5. Bad understanding - Florence Nightingale + Edwin Chadwick, believed problems were caused by miasma
What changed people's minds?
1. Edwin Chadwick
  1. 1842 - Report of the Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Population of Great Britian
  2. Proved living conditions among the poor were the cause of disease
  3. Challenged the idea of it being too expensive to do anything, highlighted the amount of money lost due to early deaths
2. Public Health Act - 1848
  1. Set up organisations to deal with public health, little money, no power
3. John Snow - 1854
  1. Diagnosed that disease centred on a public water pump, proved poor sanitation was the cause of disease, defeated outbreak by disabling the pump
4. The Great Stink - 1858, very hot Summer caused the River Thames to stink really bad, forced parliament into action as they couldn't open the windows due to the smell
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. 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
        Both were convinced poverty was the cause of Britain's low life expectancy and poor public health
        Challenged views of Britain's dominant liberal politicians
        Lead to 'New Lberalism'
2. Boer War - 1899, men applying for army were declared physically unfit
3. Seebohm Rowntree
  1. Confirmed poverty was impossible to get out of in 'Poverty: A Study In Town Life'
4. Workhouses - 1860's, more built
  1. Inhabitants lived segregated from their families
  2. Bad food, long days, harsh, menial tasks
  3. Built to give the very poor accommodation and employment, almost inescapabale when poor or old
  4. Workhouses were shameful, last resorts and feared by the poor

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Public Health 1800-1914

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