Topic 7 (Study of historian environment Urban Cardiff 1800s)

• Cardiff population growth in the 19th century

  1801 Cardiff grew from a small town of 1,871 people to becoming the largest town in Wales in 1901 with 164,333 people
• Reasons for the growth of Cardiff

  Building of the Taff Railway - The Glamorgan canal opened in 1794 which enabled coal to be transported from the mines around Merthyr Tydfil to the docks in Cardiff

  This method was slow, so in 1841 the Taff Railway was opened, linking Merthyr Tydfil and Cardiff (26 miles long and branch lines were built to link Cynon and the Rhondda Valleys
• Reasons for the growth of Cardiff 2

  Development of the docks - The marquis of Bute built the Bute West Dock in 1839

  1855, the east dock was built

  1874, the Roath Basin

  1887, Roath dock

  By 1901 Cardiff had the largest coal exporting port in the world
• How did the expansion of docks cause Cardiff’s population to grow?

  It created jobs which led to the migration of workers to Cardiff (arrivals from Italy, Germany, India and Somalia
• Trade, money and industry (Cardiff)

  Cardiff emerged as the administrative centre of the coal trade, it’s coal exchange being where the price of coal on the British market was set

  cardiff developed as an important industrial centre through growth of iron making, steel making, shipbuilding, rope-making, brewing, milling and paper manufacturing industries
• Lack of regulation and planning


  Meant housing was often of poor quality, frequently without ventilation, drainage and an adequate water supply

  Narrow streets were littered with rubbish and raw sewage
• Poor sanitation 


  overcrowding was particularly bad in Herbert Street, Stanley Street and Love Lane

  sanitation was primitive and raw sewage flowed through many streets and sometimes seeped into the water supply
• Overcrowding and poor health


  Such squalid and overcrowded living conditions resulted in poor hygiene and the outbreak of disease was common

  From 1842-1848, Cardiffs mortality rate was 30 per 1,000 compared to the UK average of 20 per 1,000
• Poor water supply


  Polluted water supplies contributed to the outbreak of disease

  Contaminated supplies led to a series of cholera outbreaks (Worst in 1849 and 1854)
• When were the four serious outbreaks of cholera?

  1832, 1849, 1854 and 1866
• Affects of the 1849 Cholera outbreak in Cardiff?

  First recorded case -13th May

  Greatest number of deaths recorded between June and September

  Last case was recorded in November

  396 people died (206 men and 190 women)
• Attempts to manage the 1849 Cholera outbreak ?

  26th of May - The Board of Guardians divided Cardiff into 3 districts

  8th of June - A committee was appointed to manage the outbreak

  Officers were appointed to visit houses to check for illness and to order cleaning up of waste and the white-washing of walls
• Attempts to manage the 1849 outbreak of Cholera 2


  As death tolls rose, Cardiff was further divided into 7 smaller districts (medical officers were were appointed to each)

  Dispensaries were opened to give out remedies
• What did the 1849 outbreak of cholera lead to?

  Rise of anti-Irish feeling in town

  Irish were blamed for the spread of the disease

  increase in drunkenness and irresponsible spending habits of the poorer classes
• Deaths of the 1854, 1866 and 1893 outbreaks of cholera in Cardiff

  1854 - 225 deaths

  1866 - 76 deaths

  1893 - 3 deaths (By 1893, improvements in the supply of piped water and the building of sewers had an impact in reducing the spread of the infection)
• Dr Henry James Paine


  A local GP who investigated the 200 deaths resulting from a typhoid outbreak in Cardiff in 1847
• What did Dr Henry James Paine conclude?

  He concluded that the high death rate was linked to unsanitary conditions (little notice was taken of his findings and it took government legislation to force change)
• Public Health act 1848

  Allowed towns to set up a local Board of Health which could become responsible for sewers, drains, wells, sewer systems, supplies of water, burial grounds, parks and public baths
• The Rammell Report (1850)


  Published by the Superintendent Inspector of the General Board of Health, Thomas Rammell

  An inquiry into the state of public health in Cardiff
• What did Thomas Rammell identify in the Rammell Report?

  open sewers, unclean water supply, poor quality housing and overcrowding
• What did Thomas Rammell recommend in the Rammell Report?

  A safe water supply

  A system of drainage and sewage

  the collection of refuse

  better quality housing
• The work of Dr Henry James Paine


  1853 - appointed medical officer of health for Cardiff (a post he held until 1889)

  He attempted to carry out the Rammell Report recommendations and under his supervision:

  A new sewage and drainage system was completed by 1856

  A hospital ship, HMS Hamadryad, was set up in Tiger Bay to treat ill and diseased sailors

  Inoculation against smallpox was encouraged

  Bylaws were passed to stop rubbish and sewage being tipped into the River Taff
• The supply of Clean water

  The Cardiff Waterworks Act of 1850, led to the laying of mains water pipes across Cardiff and the building of a pumping station at Ely

  Reservoir was constructed at Llanishan
• The town infirmary


  1823 - a dispensary was set up to provide medical aid to the poor

  1837 - Glamorgan and Monmouth Infirmary and Dispensary was opened (it treated the poor for free but charged those who could afford to pay)

  1883 - A new hospice was built and it had to be extended in 1894 (in 1895, it was renamed the ‘Cardiff Royal Infirmary’
• Public baths and wash houses

  In 1862, the Cardiff Baths Company opened facilities in Guildford Street

  It contained 2 large swimming pools, hot water baths and a Turkish bath

  It was later taken over by the Cardiff Corporation
• Sanitary act (1866)


  Forced local authorities to supply safe drinking water
• What was the impact of the attempts to improve public health?


  improvements in water supply led to decline in the death toll from each Cholera epidemic

  Improvements in the quality of housing through the introduction of planning laws and building regulations

  A safe supply of clean drinking water did have an impact in reducing the outbreaks of disease
• What was the impacts of the attempts to improve public health? 2

  Improvement in the disposal of sewage through underground sewage pipes

  Improved medical facilities (the opening of a Infirmary and Dispensary

  There was still pockets of poor quality slum housing such as Stanley Street