1. How far had Public Health Developed by 1800?
What does
this image
suggest
about the
state of
Public
Health
by 1800?

2. Lesson Objectives
To identify and explain the key features of Public Health during the Industrial revolution
To identify the main reasons why public health started to change after 1840
To evaluate how far public health had improved after the first Public Health Act

3. Public health after 1700
The Industrial Revolution TRANSFORMED Britain, but there were problems.
Workers were badly paid and could not afford decent housing
People lived in crowded buildings in tiny streets packed together.
Buildings were cheap and poor quality rats and draughts could easily get in and out.
Builders weren’t really bothered about fresh water supplies and sewage systems
Waste was still thrown in streams and lots of water supplies were polluted.

4. Factories polluted the air with thick black dense smoke and threw their waste into the river.
Working conditions were also extremely poor and people often died as a result of poor sanitary conditions at work

5. Industrial Diseases!
The cramped poor quality living conditions meant that disease spread very easily.
A new disease attacked Britain in 1832 – Cholera is spread in water.
Doctors still had limited understanding of cause and cure of disease so did not introduce public health measures to prevent it spreading –eg. People washed clothes from cholera victims in the river that provided drinking supply.
Filthy Father Thames

6. How important was Edwin Chadwick?
Cholera caused a serious crisis in 1832 – 21,000 people died.
Edwin Chadwick was CONVINCED that there was a link between poverty and sickness.
He investigated the awful conditions people lived in and wrote ‘Report on the Sanitary Condition of the labouring population

7. Did Chadwick’s findings make a difference?
Chadwick’s findings showed that something MUST be done about public health in Britain.
Chadwick argued that if towns were cleaner, there would be less disease and people would take less time off work
This meant that fewer people would need poor relief, (money from Government) and this would save ratepayers money.

8. What was the sanitary reform movement?
Chadwick said that Parliament should pass laws to improve sewage disposal and water supplies.
His work inspired the ‘The Sanitary reform movement was established’.
Reform was slow, but people had very strong opinions about cleaning up the towns – not everyone agreed.

9. How did people react to sanitary reform suggestions?
The Clean Party
Supporters of the sanitary reform movement became known as the ‘Clean Party’
1844 Health of Towns Association was set up to campaign for healthier living conditions
The Clean Party had local branches across the country which produced evidence of filthy conditions and dirty water
The Dirty Party
In 1847 a Public Health Bill was finally introduced.
It was STRONGLY opposed by a group of MPs ‘the Dirty Party’ who believed in Laissez-Faire
They argued that it was not the Government’s responsibility to clean up the towns.

10. Why were the Dirty Party against the Public Health Bill?
1) Cleaning up the towns would cost too much money.
2) Cleaning up the towns would make the Government too powerful by having too much control over people’s lives.
3) The poor were looked down on and people thought they should do more to help themselves.
4) The poor didn’t have votes so why should the wealthy try to help? (The Government didn’t need to be liked by the poor to stay in power)
5) People still didn’t understand the link between disease and dirty living conditions

11. What was the 1st Public Health Act – 1848?
In 1848 cholera struck again and MPs voted for the st Public Health Act.
Central Board of Health in London to sit for 5 years
Local Boards of Health could be set up in towns if 10% of ratepayers agreed. Boards could improve water supply and sewage disposal
Act was not compulsory. It was not fully applied across the whole country.

12. Why did the 1st Public Health Act fail?