Problems and improvements in British public health

Question 1

Why were many workers moving to industrial towns

Answer 1

Changes in farming and rapid development of factories during the industrial revolution

Question 2

What was collecting water in industrial towns like

Answer 2

20-30 families shared a pump

Question 3

How many people shared a toilet in industrial towns

Answer 3

100 approximately

Question 4

How many people lived in a room

Answer 4

a family

Question 5

What illnesses were common in industrial towns

Answer 5

Cholera, typhus and typhoid fever all three caused by contaminated water or body lice

Question 6

Why was Edwin Chadwick appointed as a leader in a report on Public Health

Answer 6

A cholera epidemic in 1842

Question 7

Who was Edwin Chadwick

Answer 7

A lawyer and social reformer

Question 8

What did Chadwicks report say

Answer 8

dire living conditions of the poor. It emphasized the link between unsanitary conditions and the spread of diseases such as cholera and typhoid fever.

Question 9

What made Chadwicks report convincing

Answer 9

he said workers who were unwell couldn’t be productive. Implying bad health was costing the nation during the industrial revolution

Question 10

What was Chadwick’s solution for the issues of British’s public health in 1848

Answer 10

Board of health with power to wash streets and supply of fresh and clean water

Question 11

Did the government like the suggestions made by Chadwick

Answer 11

No, as it would have to be paid by taxes. They also had a laissez faire approach that the people should have minimal government interference. That’s why it wasn’t passed initially

Question 12

Why did the Public Health Act of 1848 pass

Answer 12

After the cholera epidemic of 1848 killing 14,000 people the government passed Chadwick’s suggestions

Question 13

Why was the impact of the act limited

Answer 13

1. It was only a temporary act lasting 5 years
2. It wasn’t enforced by local authorities as it was a choice
3. Chadwick believed in miasma and order all human waste to be dumped in the River of Thames and through which it found its way into drinking water and washing sources.

Question 14

Who was John snow

Answer 14

a physician who suggested in 1849 cholera was directly linked to polluted water

Question 15

How did John Snow construct his arguement

Answer 15

1. He removed a pump handle from an area where many were dying from cholera, then no one else died.
2. A lady died from cholera away from that area but then he found that she had her water delivered from the pump in that area
3. A local brewery in the area wasn’t affected by cholera at all as they had their own water supply and workers drank the free beer.

Question 16

Why was John Snow’s investigation significant?

Answer 16

He showed the link between polluted water and cholera and put pressure on the government to improve water supplies.

Question 17

Did John Snow help stop the Cholera epidemic

Answer 17

No as there was still no knowledge on the spread of disease and where diseases came from.

Question 18

When did public health truly improve

Answer 18

1858 during the Great Stink

Question 19

What was the Great Stink

Answer 19

A very hot summer where the river thames levels dropped leaving the waste and rubbish on the embankment

Question 20

Why did the Government take action in the great stink

Answer 20

It smelt so bad they could smell it from their building and they passed an act for a new sewer system appointing Joseph Bazalgette.