3.1 Public Health
REPORTS ON THE STATES OF TOWNS
The moral and physical condition of the working classes of Manchester 1832.
-1832 Cholera epidemic brought Kay to investigate the conditions of the working classes in Manchester.
-He made a connection between dirt and disease.
Report of the sanitary condition of the labouring population of Great Britain 1844
-It started off as a small report but then Sir James Graham asked it to be extended to the whole country and not just London.
-Chadwick attacked the inadequacy of the water companies.
Report of the Royal commission into the Sanitary condition of large towns and populous districts 1844
Report of the Bradford Wolcombers Sanitary Committee 1845
DRAINAGE SYSTEMS AND WATER SUPPLIES.
Flushing toilets were called the 'closet' they had to be in all new builds in 1850s
-Sewerage, before the creation of a reliable sewer system it would often get stuck.
-In 1842 John Roe the engineer created a system whereby there were cast iron gates.
-Water companies were privatised in 19th Century. Lambeth Water works expanded works to Kensington and replaced wooden pipes with iron ones.
-Chelsea waterworks company became the first company in 1829 to introduce filtration systems.
ATTITUDES TO PUBLIC HEALTH
Social Concerns- Elizabeth Gaskell and Charles Dickens wrote vivid pen pictures of the working class conditions.
Newspapers started reporting on public health and not favourably they sometimes made connections between disease and dirt.
Artists like Gustav Doré created paintings of the rural and urban populations.
There was increased information about science.
There were more government reports.
Economic imperatives
people started to become aware of the cost of undertaking reform.
The cost of reform could be calculated against the cost of losing a productive worker.
many saw a reduction in the poor rate as a result of the improving drains and sewerage.