Industrial 1750-1900

• • Britain's population skyrocketed to 21 million in 1850 to 37 million in 1900.
• • Industrialisation transformed Britain. Steam engines were used to power vast factorles.
• • Huge numbers moved to the cities (urbanisation) which led to overcrowding and difficulties for water supplies. Railways connected different communities
• • Many people began to change their beliefs. New scientific thinking, like Darwin's theory of evolution, challenged religious ideas.
• • There was a large class divide between rich, middle class and working class people.

  The latter were eventually given the vote.
• Rapid Industrialisation and urbanisation led to horrific living conditions that were worse for the working class.
• • Housing in towns was difficult to find. Overcrowded lodging houses or back-to-back houses were common. A lack of ventilation of toilet facilities meant they were a health hazard.
• • Working classes had a terrible diet. They lived on potatoes, bread and butter. Food was often adulterated
• • The disposal of human waste was a significant problem.
• Working classes continued to use privies. These could be emptied by 'night soil men'.
• • The increased use of flushing toilets by rich and middle classes meant sewers could not cope and emptied into rivers.
• • Water companies controlled access to water. More people had piped water or could use a pump but the water was often taken directly from the filthy rivers.
• Cholera struck England in 1831, 1848, 1853 and 1866. It was deadly as people still strongly believed it was caused by miasma.
• • People believed it was caused by miasma or a punishment from God. It was in fact a waterborne disease that flourished due to a lack of effective sewage.
• • Responses to the 1831/2 were mixed. The Cholera Bill of 1846 encouraged property owners to connect homes to the sewers. This led to more waste in the rivers.
• • In 1854 John Snow worked out that cholera was a waterborne disease through his work on

  Broad St, Soho. This was dismissed as people believed in miasma theory.
• • Sewage continued to be neglected in 1858 led to the Great Stink. As a result Parliament approved Bazalgette to create new sewers in London. This stopped cholera.
• Public health improved greatly throughout the 19th century as the government moved away from a laissez-faire attitude.
• • Edwin Chadwick's 1842 report on The Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Population challenged the government to reduce poverty and improve public health.
• • This (and a cholera epidemic in 1848) led to the 1848 Public Health Act, which encouraged towns to clean up sewers and water. Very few towns did this as they did not want to anger the rate payers.
• • After the 1850s the government began to move away from a laissez faire attitude to public health:

  • The working class gained the vote in 1867 the government.
• • In 1861 Pasteur proved germs caused disease.
• ° Bazalgette's sewer in London, which opened in 1865, was a success.
• • The 1875 Public Health Act forced towns to take responsibility for water supply, sewers, rubbish collection and public toilets.
• • Belief in God declined throughout the 20** century.
• Britain’s population grew from 21million in 1850 to 37 million in 1900