People’s Health - Industrial Revolution

Question 1

Changing Beliefs

Answer 1

• People became influenced by new scientific thinking
• 1859 - Darwin published his book on evolution, which changed the way people think
• By the end of the 19th century, Britain was mostly a secular society - people believed religion had been disproven

Question 2

Urbanisation and Railways

Answer 2

• Rapid growth placed huge pressure on urban environment
• First inner city railway in the world was opened between between Liverpool and Manchester in 1830 and were popular by 1850 in Britain
• Added to pollution
• However brought fresh food and let people go to the countryside and coast - escaping pollution of city, good for health

Question 3

Growth of Democracy

Answer 3

• 1832 Reform Act - vote for men with property
• Before 1832, only 5% of the population could vote
• During 19th century, gov. began to help poorer people more
• In 1867 - 1884, vote extended to WC men

Question 4

Working Conditions

Answer 4

• Children worked 13 hours a day with only half an hour break
• Breathed in dusty air of factory
• Accidents were common
• Noise from machines was deafening
• Grew up very unhealthy

Question 5

Class Division

Answer 5

• The rich moved into the countryside with pleasant surroundings
• WC were left in over-crowded slums to live near factories, and middle class people didn’t realise the extent of these conditions

Question 6

Industrialisation

Answer 6

• By early 1800s, steam engines could be used to power machinery
• Demand for coal increased - soon people used it in houses
• Hundreds of factories opened, producing smog

Question 7

Food Supply

Answer 7

• From 6 mil in 1750 to 21 million in 1850, and 37 million in 1900
• Despite improved agriculture, wages of WC were too low for an adequate diet
• Poorer families had to buy unsafe meat from diseased animals - could become very ill

Question 8

Alcohol

Answer 8

• Wealthy men drank large quantities of brandy, port and wine
• Poor people drank in pubs - provided an escape, they became addicted and drank lots of whiskey (strong spirit)
• 19th century - Temperance Movement had limited success

Question 9

Growing Literacy

Answer 9

1870 - Education Act have schools for all under 10 years old - in the late 1700s charities and churches had begun to provide schools for poorer children

Question 10

British Empire

Answer 10

• Grows a great deal in India
• By the end of the 19th century, much of Africa also under Britain’s control
• In 1900 - 1/5 of world’s land was Britain’s
• Huge growth in trade brings plants, animals, diseases, ideas

Question 11

New Discoveries

Answer 11

• 1861 - Louis Pasteur discovered the link between germs and disease
• In the late 19th century, others built on his works

Question 12

Back to back housing

Answer 12

• Population boom in cities due to Industrial Revolution so this maximised space - overcrowded (6 mil in 1750 to 37 mil in 1850)
• Cheap and poorly constructed
• Leads to increased spread of disease and little space
• Families often lived in one room
• Narrow streets, back to back houses are damp (causing mould)
• Cheapest accommodation was the cellar of a back-to-back house - no ventilation/windows, damp and mouldy - respiratory issues
• Tuberculosis was common because of damp walls in poorly built housing

Question 13

Earth closet

Answer 13

• Earth closest - bucket where people would go to the toilet (10 families could share one privy- overflowed and lead to waste piling up on streets)

Question 14

Diet of the Working Class

Answer 14

• Potatoes, bread, butter, beer and tea
• Cheap meat sometimes available but it was often diseased
• Often ate food which was mixed with other products (adulteration)
• In towns/cities, it was difficult to obtain fruit and vegetables but this improved with steam trains
• Machinery in the countryside made supply of food easier
• Improvements to agriculture, but wages received didn’t support and adequate diet

Question 15

Water

Answer 15

• Early in the period people did not know water caused disease
• Sourced from ponds, rivers and streams
• Typhoid and cholera were prevalent in water
• Water supplies were not treated - caused dypyheria, cholera and typhoid (highly contagious)
• Water pumps were built over sewers
• Often mixed in with river water (waste was thrown into rivers)

Question 16

Unemployment

Answer 16

• Unemployment and poverty is increasing due to rapid population growth, people migrating to find work and towns become overcrowded

Question 17

Open Sewers

Answer 17

• Privies couldn’t cope with the amount of waste, so raw sewage piled up on the streets - disease in open air
• Joseph Balzegette was an engineer who invented the London sewerage system in response to the Great Stink of 1858

Question 18

Smoke Pollution

Answer 18

• In the Industrial Revolution, demand for cheap coal increased as people could use in their houses - increased smoke pollution and led to respiratory diseases
• Hundreds of factories opened, producing thick smog and massively increasing pollution
• By early 1800s, coal could be used to power steam engines and railways were popular by 1850

Question 19

Impact of 1848 Public Health Act - Positives

Answer 19

Positives:
• A Central Board of Health was established
• Local Boards of Health HAD to be set up in places where the death rate was above 23 per 1000
• Corporate boroughs were to assume responsibility for drainage, water supplies, removal of ‘nuisances’, paving etc.
• Non-corporate towns should set up local Boards of Health to monitor and improve public health
• Finance for infrastructure was to be raised from the rates paid by taxpayers to pay for improvements and maintenance

Question 20

Impact of 1848 Public Health Act negatives

Answer 20

• The Central Board had no money or a budget to spend
• The problem of public health was not made a ministerial responsibility in the U.K. government’s cabinet
• No measures were taken to ensure the professionalism of the boards
• In 1854, the Central Board of Health was reduced to three members, with only advisory powers
• Central Board of Health had few powers once a Local Board of Health was set up by boroughs or towns
• Local Boards did not need to take responsibility;it was STILL a optional and the Central Board often met resistance to its orders
• London, Scotland and Ireland were excluded from the Act - there was widespread opposition and concern over taxation increase (act wasn’t widespread)

Question 21

Medical Pioneers - Edwin Chadwick

Answer 21

• Chadwick was asked to lead a report for the cholera epidemic of 1842 - commissioned by gov.
• In report, discovered there was an urgent need to improve living conditions - saw connection to poor health
• However believed in miasma - made cholera worse as waste was put in the river Thames
• Suggested implementing Boards of Health - wanted to clean streets and provide clean water
• 1848 - another outbreak killing 14,000 forced gov. to pass Public Health Act
• Convinces gov. by noting better health = better work conditions = profit

Question 22

Medical Pioneers - John Snow

Answer 22

• 1849 - published a book claiming dirty water caused cholera - people who believed in miasma were outraged
• Gov and doctors didn’t believe - he needed evidence to prove his theory
• Discovered people in a certain area didn’t die because they were drinking beer
• Removed handle on water pump so people can’t access on Broadstreet - rich woman did die as got servants to bring her dirty water
• The gov. didn’t believe until cholerie was discovered

Question 23

Poor ventilation

Answer 23

• Lack of fresh air leads to many diseases - respiratory issues, pneumonia
• Cheapest accommodation is a cellar - lots of poor people had to live in these conditions of damp, mould, no ventilation

Question 24

Privies

Answer 24

In back-to-back houses, one privy was shared between 10 families
• Waste piles up in privies, more infection
• Also Earth closets where people went to the toilet in a bucket
• Due to so many people using privies, this caused open sewage on the streets

Question 25

Overcrowding

Answer 25

• Population boom in London as the WC migrated to find work in growing urban areas - led to overcrowding
• Unemployment/poverty is increasing due to rapid population growth
• People have to live in poor conditions - back to back housing - increases spread of disease with little space

Question 26

Response to cholera (national responses)

Answer 26

• Boards of health were set up in the early 1830s to try and prevent and act when cholera struck
• In November 1832, The Central Board of Health was set up by the Government to study the disease in other countries
• National day of fasting - set up by gov March 2nd 1832 for fasting, humiliation and prayer

Question 27

Responses to cholera (local)

Answer 27

• Boards of Health were set up in the early 1830s to try to prevent and act when Cholera struck (Worcester 1831) Chloride of lime in sewers. Removal of rubbish and waste from the streets
• Building of some better housing in the 1840s and 1850s by some factory owners and charity organisations
• Burial of victims in separate burial grounds
• Producing detailed reports that pointed out poor ventilation, filthy privies and overcrowding
• Barrels of tar were burnt in the streets of some cities (e.g. Leeds, Exeter)
• Maps plotting deaths (Shapster Exeter 1832, Baker Leeds 1833 and Snow London 1854)
• Newspaper recommended better behaviour, whitewashing buildings, avoiding drink
• Cholera hospitals and quarantining (Bevere Island, north of Worcester)