cholera and public health

• Arrived from India in 1831

  • 4 main epidemics 1831-32, 1848, 1854 and 1865-66
  • Killed over 100,000 people
  • Spread by drinking water infected with the excrement of people carrying the disease
• 1831- 32 outbreak

  • People believed miasma theory OR God’s punishment + Some connections between dirt and illness

  NATIONAL RESPONSES:

  • Central Board of Health set up to study the disease, national day of fasting and prayer

  LOCAL RESPONSES

  • Burning tar in the streets, collecting rubbish, quarantine zones, separate cholera hospitals and graveyards 
• 1848

  • Edwin Chadwick’s report highlighted the link between disease and poor housing

  NATIONAL RESPONSES:

  • Public Health Act 1848 – but was not compulsory

  LOCAL RESPONSES

  • Similar to 1831
  • No desire to raise taxes to make more changes
• 1854

  • Dr John Snow proved cholera was spread by contaminated water
  • Took the handle off the Broad Street pump and stopped the outbreak

  NATIONAL RESPONSES:

  • Snow could not say why he was right

  LOCAL RESPONSES

  • No new action
• 1866

  • Germ Theory was now becoming accepted – miasma theory was dead
  • John Snow’s findings were also accepted

  NATIONAL RESPONSES:

  • 1866 Sanitary Act made local authorities responsible for sewers, clean water supply and street cleaning

  LOCAL RESPONSES

  • 1865 London’s new sewers designed by Bazalgette and new ‘pail privies’ revolutionised public health
• Chadwick – 1842 Report on the Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Population

  • First challenge to Laissez Faire – Chadwick wanted government to bring in laws to help with poverty
  • Suggested a national public health authority be set up to force local authorities to provide clean water & sewers
  • Water companies objected because it would affect their profits
  • Rich people objected because they did not want to pay more tax
  • The 1848 Cholera epidemic forced the government to introduce the voluntary 1848 Public Health Act
  • Only 163 local authorities followed the suggestions of the act
• Bazalgette’s London sewers open in 1865

  • After the 1858 Great Stink closed down parliament, approval was given for new sewers for London
  • 1,300 miles of sewer tunnels were built taking human waste to a treatment plant
  • This really helped stopped the spread of cholera later that year
• More government action

  • 1860 Adulteration of Food Act – made it illegal to put dangerous substances in food but had limited impact
  • 1866 Sanitary Act – forced local authorities to proved clean water, sewers, waste disposal and clean streets
• Disraeli – Prime Minister 1874 - 1880

  • 1875 Sale of Food and Drugs Act – harsh punishments introduced for those selling contaminated food
  • 1875 Public Health Act – local authorities were forced to appoint medical officer and sanitary inspectors
• Further government action as they moved away from Laissez Faire

  • 1891 Slum Clearance – in London slums were knocked down and 3 room homes built instead
  • 1894 Thirlmere Dam – cities like Manchester started building fresh water reservoirs to make sure clean water was available for people in their town