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CE Revision- Public Health during the Industrial Revolution - Coggle…
CE Revision- Public Health during the Industrial Revolution
What was the problem?
There was no running water or sewage systems. A total lack of basic hygiene.
Open toilets were used by up to 60 people. They often leaked into the drinking water supply via streams and rivers.
Houses were made from cheap materials and in very poor condition.
This all led to regular outbreaks of disease, such as cholera
There was a lack of affordable housing, forcing thousands to live in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions (slum housing)
Change was needed. The government was beginning to see the need to get involved.
Men, women and children poured into towns and cities to look for work (usually in factories)
Towns and cities grew at an alarming rate
People did not live long in industrial towns.
Edwin Chadwick
He suggested three things to improve this; fresh drinking water available, towns should have sewage systems, each town should have a medical officer.
The government refused to introduce his suggestions due to the cost
However, he did still believe in the popular theory of miasma, that bad smells were the cause of diseases, such as cholera
After a large cholera outbreak, the government eventually introduced the 1848 Public Health Act. However, it made the changes optional for councils and most did nothing.
He said this was damaging the country's economy because workers were dying far too young.
He found there was a direct link between living conditions and disease.
He was a lawyer and was asked by the government to write a report in 1842 on public health. He had previously been involved in improving conditions for the poor.
John Snow
He formed the theory that the water from the Broad Street pump had made people ill. He had the handle removed and no one else died
No workers from the local brewery died, as they all drank beer instead of water
He plotted a map of all the people who died. They all lived close together and on investigation he found out they all drank from the same water pump
Snow has proven that cholera was spread through drinking contaminated water and not through bad smells, but few people believed him
In 1854, there was a cholera outbreak in Soho, killing 600 people
Not until 1856 was a larger survey carried which proved Snow's theory to be correct.
He was a doctor working in Soho, London.
This knowledge persuaded the authorities that fresh, clean water was vital to improve public health.
In the 1860s, it was finally proved that germs cause disease.
1875 Public Health Act
What did it say?
Every part of the country had to have a public health authority
All public health authorities had to appoint a medical officer to check the health of people and stop the spread of diseases
They also had to appoint a sanitary inspector to make sure laws about sewers, water supply and housing were carried out
Local authorities were to build sewers and provide clean running water for all its inhabitants.
They also built more lavatories, made reservoirs and created parks in towns
After this act was passed and implemented all of Chadwick's suggestions, there were no more cholera outbreaks in Britain
Unlike the 1848 Act, this law was compulsory and applied to the whole country. No councils could opt out of it.
Sample CE Questions
b) What do you judge to be the most important reason why the government ignored the appalling conditions for so long? (8)
c) 'The work of John Snow was the most important development to improving public health'. How far do you agree with this statement? (14)
a) Describe two events that led to an improvement to public health. (8)