Topic 6 (Developments in public health and welfare)

• why were mortality rates so higher In towns and cities than in the countryside?

  People lived closer togethe, next to their animals and their filth
• Attempts to improve public health in the 16th century

  Henry VII passed a law forbidding slaughterhouses within towns and cities

  Henry VIII passed an act of parliament giving towns and cities the power to impose a tax in order to build sewers
• Outbreaks of the Plague in

  1563 (17,000 people died)

  1575, 1584, 1589, 1603, 1647

  Biggest outbreak 1665 (100,000 people died, nearly 25% of Londons population
• What was passed after the Great Fire of London?

  Act of parliament was passed to limit fire and destruction by making streets wider and insisting houses were built of stone with tile or slate roofs
• What forced the government to begin investigating living conditions in the rapidly expanding industrial towns?

  Serious outbreaks of Cholera in 1832 and 1849
• The work of Sir Henry de La Beche into public health in Merthyr Tydfil


  1845 - He was asked to investigate the state of public health in Merthyr Tydfi (largest industrial town in Wales)

  His report identified unhygienic, disease ridden and unsanitary conditions across the town

  Little was done to address the problems of overcrowding, lack of clean drinking water and open sewers, his work did encourage further investigations such as the Rammell Report in 1850
• The work of Edwin Chadwick

  Appointed a Poor Law commissioner in 1832

  Witnessed dreadful living conditions in industrial towns

  He believed in the ‘miasma theory’ but was convinced there was a link between poor health and bad living conditions
• The work of Edwin Chadwick 2


  1838 - he appointed 3 doctors to investigate housing conditions in East London

  1839 - government asked Chadwick to head a Royal commission to enquire into the living conditions of working people

  1842 - Chadwick published his Report on ‘the sanitary conditions of the Labouring Population of Great Britain
• What did ’the sanitary conditions of the Labouring Population of Great Britain‘ report do

  Recommended Parliament should pass and enforce laws to make drainage and sanitation effective

  Paying for them from local rates and increases in rents

  Local authorities should be made responsible for improving water supplies
• The 1848 Public Health Act


  Set up the Board of Health run by 3 commissioners

  They had the power to set up local boards of health in areas with high death rates

  Towns could volunteer to set up their own local health board (By 1854, 182 towns had done)
• What did the Public Health Act not do?

  Did not force local authorities to act , it only recommended

  Had no authority in London

  1854 - the government closed down the Board of Health
• More improvements in public health

  1859 - Joseph Bazalgette was appointed to oversee building of Londons new sewage system

  1854 - Dr John Snow proved the link between dirty water and disease

  The Sanitary Act of 1866 forced local authorities to construct sewers

  The Public Health Act of 1875, made it compulsory for local authorities to lay sewer, drains and pavements

  The Artisans Dwellings Act of 1875 gave councils the power to take over and clear whole slum districts
• Building reservoirs in Wales (fresh water)

  Liverpool and Lake Vyrnwy - Liverpool corporation bought up land in the Vyrnwy Valley and in 1881 began the construction of a dam (opened in 1889 and has since supplied Liverpool with fresh water)

  Birmingham and the Elan Valley - In the early 1890’s Birmingham Corporation bought up land in the Elan Valley, forcing people out of their farms and villages to build a series of dams ( The Elan Reservoir opened in 1904 and by 1952 a further four dams had been built at Craig Goch, Pen y Garreg, Caban Coch and Dol y Mynach
• Efforts to improve Housing and pollution in 20th century


  1918 - Prime Minister David Lloyd George, promised to clear away slum housing and replace it with ‘homes fit for heroes’

  The housing act of 1919 gave grants to councils, to build homes (council houses were built all over the country)

  Demolition of back to back housing in 1920s
• Efforts to improve housing and pollution in the 20th century

  Beveridge report of 1942 (squalor)

  After WW2 there was a housing shortage so grants were given to councils to build new homes and charge low rents (1.25 million new homes were built by 1951)

  During the 1960s inner-city slums were cleared and replaced by high rise blocks or flats

  In 1968 the Welsh House Condition Survey found that 92,000 homes in Wales were unfit for habitation (improvement grants resulted in better quality housing)
• The ‘Great Smog’?


  December 1952 the ‘great smog’ fell over London

  It was so thick it stopped trains, cars and public events

  Over 4,000 people died of respiratory illnesses
• What did the ‘great smog’ result in?

  Resulted in Clean Air Act of 1956 which introduced smokeless zones, encouraging the use of cleaner coals, electricity and gas for heating and tried to relocate power stations away from cities
• What was ‘Walking for Health’

  Fitness drive to encourage people to take more exercise, to walk 10,000 steps a day
• What was the ’Be Active’ scheme

  Birmingham city Councils scheme to provide free leisure services to its residents
• Impacts of the ‘Be Active’ scheme

  A third of Birmingham have got involved since the project launch in 2008

  For every £1 spent on the scheme, £23 is estimated to have been recouped in health benefits
• What is the ‘five a day’ campaign?


  An attempt to get people to eat more fruit and vegetables
• What was proven about eating more fruit and vegetables?

  Reduces the risk of heart disease and cancer
• What was the ‘Eatwell Guide’

  A national government campaign issued in March 2016

  It depicts a healthy, balanced diet, which includes eating at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day