1.4-1.6 Early Modern Britain

• What was the effect of the Early Modern rich diet?

  • 80% protein

  -> led to digestive problems

  -> many suffered from gout (severe joint pain)
• How did Early Modern diet change for rich?

  • new overseas trade food

  • white bread

  • wine
• What was the effect of Early Modern poor diet?

  • healthier than rich

  • lacked vitamin C and iron

  • periods of hunger and starvation
• How did water change for rich in the Early Modern period?

  some towns companies piped water to houses - expensive
• How did the way rich stay clean change in the Early Modern period?

  • servants washed clothes

  • bathtubs, using heated water from fire

  • soap - made from olive oil
• How did the way poor stay clean change in Early Modern period?

  • bathed in river

  • dry washing - using brushes on skin to take off dead skin
• How was household waste dealt with in the Early Modern period?

  • solution

  -> scavengers or rakers collected ash, food waste and sweepings from houses once or twice a week

  -> dunghills made outside town

  • effectiveness

  -> effectively dealth with, scavengers and rakers sold waste to market gardeners
• How was urine and excrement dealt with in the Early Modern period?

  • solution

  -> flushing toilets - made in 1596, not popular

  -> privies empited into rivers

  -> privies often emptied into other cesspits which overflowed

  • effectiveness

  -> flushing toilet was expensive, only rich had access to water and drains

  -> privies and cesspits polluted rivers and well

  -> piles of excrement built up in gardens and alleyways spreading disease
• What was housing like in the Early Modern period?

  • wood and coal burned on open fires

  -> created soot, dust and smoke

  • crowded and damp

  -> lead to lung problems
• When was the Early Modern period?

  1500-1750
• What were the Early Modern beliefs about the causes of plauge?

  • God punishing for sins

  • miasma

  • close contact with infected person
• When was the most serious outbreak of plauge in the Early Modern period?

  1665
• What was the name of the most serious outbreak of plauge in the Early Modern period?

  Great Plauge
• What were the rules about plauge in 1518?


  • new rules

  -> isolate victims in homes, straw hungs outside infected houses and leaving house - carrying white stick

  -> some victims isolated in pesthouse outside city walls

  • effectiveness

  -> limited effect - not enforced everywhere
• What were the rules about plauge in 1578?


  • new rules

  -> plauge orders - record spread of plauge, financial help for sick and burning victims clothes and bedding

  -> victims and healthy in same house had to isolate for atleast 6 weeks

  -> special prayers said to God for forgiveness

  • effectiveness

  -> reduced spread of disease

  -> criticism at time for isolating healthy and sick together
• What were the rules about plauge in 1604?


  • new rules

  -> plauge act - increased financial help for sick

  -> city and town watchmen used harsher punishments to enforce isolation

  -> harsher sanctions if victim left isolation, if mingled with others - could be hung

  • effectiveness

  -> reduced the spread of disease as people stayed in isolation

  -> link between dirt and disease being made - didn't know rats and fleas spread it
• How did local authorities try to improve public health during the Early Modern period?

  • told people to clean up area outside house

  • only put rubbish outside house after 7pm for scavengers and rakers

  • fining system for anyone throwing waste out of window as night

  • encourage to have cesspits regularly emptied
• How did towns improve for the rich after 1670?


  • more companies bought piped water to peoples homes

  • large houses built for wealthy

  • streets lit with street lamps

  • rich areas paved
• What alcohol was popular in 1700s?

  • rum as it was by-product (not the main product made) of the slave trade - sailors were given daily rations

  • Guinness - darker and stronger than tradtional ales
• When was the gin craze?

  1720-1751
• Why did people drink gin?

  a cheap escape of the dreadful life at the time
• What was the problem with the increase in drinking?

  increase in crime, ruining of families and death rate
• What did the Gin Act of 1729 do?


  • government action

  -> £20 licence fee for sellers

  -> 5 shilling (25p) tax per gallon for producers

  • effectiveness

  -> hard to enforce due to amount of small gin shops
• What did the Gin Act of 1736 do?


  • government action

  -> £50 licence fee for sellers

  -> 20 shilling (£1) tax per gallon for producers

  • effectiveness

  -> hard to enforce due to amount of small gin shops

  -> rioting against law

  -> many started distilling (making) gin in own homes illegally
• What did the Gin Act of 1751 do?


  • government action

  -> harsher punishments on anyone selling illegal gin

  • effectiveness

  -> consumption fell