Government Acts

• The Representation of the People Act 1832:

  Making some important adjustments to voting and to the distribution of seats, this act allowed for greater representation of growing industrial towns in parliament. Although there was an expectation for them to focus on Public Health, with a desire to keep rates low, parliament still believed that Public Health reforms were the business of local authorities, not parliament.
• The Municipal Corporations Act 1835:

  This meant that Borough councils were to be elected by male ratepayers for a 3 year term, rather than councillors reappointing themselves every year. It also stated that councils, if they wished, could assume control of Public Health, although they still needed a private Act of Parliament to do so. This meant that more progressive councils were able to focus on public health reforms.
• Series of Nuisance Removal Acts (1846):

  This allowed the prosecution of those responsible for 'nuisances' (generally described as unwholesome houses, accumulations of filth, foul drains and cesspools). This only applied if the authorities wanted it to.
• The Baths and Washhouses Act 1846: This allowed local authorities to provide baths and washhouses out of public money, if they wanted to.
• The Town Improvement Clauses Act (1847): This defined the rights of towns to lay water supplies, drainage schemes and to control nuisances. It also legalised the discharge of sewage into rivers and the sea. This was all optional.
• The Public Health Act 1848:

  This act set up a General Board of Health (with members including Edwin Chadwick) and empowered local authorities to also set up local boards of health where 10% of ratepayers asked for one, or where the death rate was greater than 23 per 1000. These local boards were also permitted to appoint a medical officer of health and were to manage things such as sewers, drains, wells, refuse, sewerage systems and burial grounds. They could finance their projects by levying local rates and buying land.
• The Public Health Act 1848:

  However, this act was permissive. This was both a strength and a weakness, as it only applied where local people wanted it, meaning a lack of opposition against it, but it did lack universality as it didn't apply in areas such as Scotland. Local boards were also not required to take on wider public health considerations, such as parks.

  Despite all of this, it still demonstrates that the government was prepared to do something to aid public health.
• The Local Government Act 1858 and the Public Health Act 1858:

  These acts abolished the General Board of Health and created the new Local Government Action office and a medical department of the Privy Council. Local boards were also given powers to take preventative action and appoint officials. All local authorities now had to gain the permission of the Local Government Act Office to gain loans for public works, as the Privy Council carried out the relevant inspections. In the next 10 years (until 1868), 568 towns set up boards of health.
• The Sanitary Act 1866:

  Pushed for by John Simon, this act meant that sanitary powers that had been granted to individual local boards in the 1848 act were made available to all local boards. It also made local authorities responsible for the removal of nuisances (if they failed to act, the central government could take over and charge them), while extended nuisances to also include domestic properties, and overcrowding. Local authorities could even improve or demolish dwellings. For the first time, the central government was compelling local authorities, not just advising them.
• The Public Health Act 1875:

  This stated that every part of the country must have a public health authority, with a least one medical officers and one sanitary inspector. Local authorities were also given wider powers to lay sewers and drains, build reservoirs etc. This was important as it highlighted that the government was now completely committed to public health.
• The Public Health Act 1936:

  This consolidated a range of previous legislation, addressing matters on sanitation, nuisances and even the prevention and notification of diseases, over all of which local authorities had immediate responsibility. It was extended by the Food and Drugs Act 1938 to include slaughterhouses and food adulteration.