Reports

• The Moral and Physical Condition of the Working Classes of Manchester 1832: When the Cholera epidemic hit Manchester on the 17th May, a board of health was set up, with Dr James Kay as secretary. Kay personally visited all 14 districts to investigate the conditions, creating his report which became one of the first detailed reports on the condition of the working people. He was one of the first to demonstrate the connection between dirt and disease, while also mentioning the moral condition of the poor.
• Report on the Sanitary Condition pf the Labouring Population of Great Britain 1842: Requested by the Poor Law Commissioners, it began as a smaller report focusing on London, by Edwin Chadwick. However, in 1839, the home secretary asked for it to be expanded to be all of Britain. The completed report was submitted to a session of parliament early 1842 in 3 volumes, 1 and 2 with local reports from all over Britain, and 3 being his conclusion and proposal. But, the Poor Law Commissioners refused to publish it.
• In 1842, Chadwick published his report at his own expense and under his own name. Within it, he attacked the inadequacy of water supplies/drainage/sewerage, linked public health and the poor law and even pointed a finger at those who stood in the way of improvement (naming names). Reactions to the report ranged from anger to acceptance, and led to a Royal Commission.
• Report of the Royal Commission into Sanitary Conditions of Large Towns and Populous Districts 1844: Led by the Duke of Buccleuch, questionnaires were sent to 50 towns with the highest annual death rates. The report upheld all of Chadwick's findings, showing that 42/50 of the towns had bad drainage, and 30/50 had poor water supplies. It recommended that the central government gave powers to supervise local sanitary work, the introduction of local sanitary districts, and giving them the power to raise money for schemes.
• Report of the Bradford Woolcombers Sanitary Committee 1845: In the 1840s, 10000 woolcombers in Bradford were living and working in their own dwellings. Conditions were appalling, with the average age of death being 14 years and 2 months. In 1845, the Bradford woolcombers set up a committee to report on their living conditions.