Health 3.3 Improvements in Public Health

Question 1

What were conditions like in 19th century Britain? (HE 3.3)

Answer 1

• 1 factory, 100+ workers.
• 5+ per room in a home.
• Few toilets in homes.
• Drinking water and sewage mixed.
• No rubbish collections and street cleaning.

Question 2

Why did typhoid, TB and cholera spread rapidly in 19th century Britain? (HE 3.3)

Answer 2

• Typhoid and Cholera moved in contaminated water and food, when sewage entered the water supply.
• TB spread through the air, and was bad in overcrowded places.

Question 3

How severe were 19th century cholera outbreaks? Why were they so poorly handled? (HE 3.3)

Answer 3

• 1831, Cholera killed 50,000 people.
• Further outbreaks in 1837/38, 1848, 1853/54, and 1865/66.
• Was not understood to be waterborne, so people didn’t know how to prepare.

Question 4

What were they key points of Chadwick’s report? How did the government react? (HE 3.3)

Answer 4

• Disease comes from bad air, damp filth and overcrowding.
• People needed appointed medical officers in a district.
• Better laws and healthier habits would create a better workforce.

-The government did nothing, believing in not interfering.

Question 5

What caused the 1848 public health act? What did it do? Why did it close? (HE 3.3)

Answer 5

• A cholera epidemic the same year killing 60,000.
• Set up a central and local boards of health, allowing towns to manage health and cleaning.
• In 5 years, only 103 towns set up a board, and the central board closed.

Question 6

What was the Great Stink? How did Bazalgette handle it by 1866? (HE 3.3)

Answer 6

• Summer 1858, heat wave caused the Thames to stink.
• Parliament gave Bazalgette enough to build a sewage system for the whole city.
• 83 miles of sewer capable of handling 420m gallons was built by 1866.

Question 7

What happened with the 1867 vote and 1875 public health act? (HE 3.3)

Answer 7

• Working class men were given the vote in 1867.
• Public health act declared local councils would have medical officers, must build sewers for fresh water, and collect rubbish.