The People's Health

Goes into more detail on each theme: Living Conditions, Epidemics and Public Health from 1250 to 2000.

What did people eat in the Medieval period?

Potage, bread, fish, vegetables, fruit, honey, nuts, milk, cheese

What percentage of the population died in the Great Famine of 1315-16?

10%

On what bread did a fungus grown on which caused ergotism?

Rye bread

Hazardous aspects of food in Medieval Period

Famine, fungus on rye bread, rancid meat pies

Helpful aspects of Medieval water

Springs gave clean water and provided fish, villagers drank lots of water, conduit gave water for all to use, Cathedrals needed pure water

Helpful aspects of Medieval drink

Ale gave valuable nutrition, brew was boiled which killed germs

Hazardous aspects of Medieval water and drink

Fullers cleaned woven cloth with human urine, however this polluted many streams, Tavern ale was strong and drunkenness was a common problem.

Helpful Medieval housing

Many peasants lived in quite large houses with strong timber frames. They had a fire for warmth.

Hazardous Medieval housing

Animals kept near houses, lack of ventilation, thatched rooves attracted pests, closely packed in town centre

Helpful Medieval waste

Rakers cleared streets

Hazardous Medieval waste

Middens not hygienic, same cart for rubbish and goods, some gongfermers tipped waste into streams

When did London start paying rakers to clear the streets?

1293

Who left money in his will for more latrines to be built?

Richard Whittington (1423)

What were the three stages of the Plague?

Bubonic, pneumonic, septicemic

What did people think cause the Black Death?

Miasma, God, Planetary alignment, Touching clothes of ill, Four humours not balanced

Unhelpful responses to the Black Death

Confessing sins, processions, flagellants, ringing church bells to circulate air, smelling herbs, burning clothes, blood letting

How did cathedrals and monasteries set the standard for health?

Monasteries had pure water, infirmaries and latrines, Cathedrals had wealth to bring water pipes

Positive Medieval Public Health

More conduits and privies funded by towns, paved streets and markets

When did King Edward I order the streets to be cleaned in York?

1301

What professionals did London have since 1302?

Gongfermers and Paviours

When and why was a warden appointed in London?

1385, to check the streets were clear of filth

When did John Wells organise the replacement and extension of London's water pipes?

1430s

How did London's population change from 1250 to 1500?

25,000 to 100,000

Healthy Early Modern food

New products from America and Asia such as potatoes, peppers, chillies, tomatoes and turkey. Rich ate fish

Unhealthy Early Modern food

People had little salad, fruit and vegetables in their unbalanced diets. Poor people continued to have a diet of bread, vegetables and pottage. Hot chocolate, tea and coffee became popular.

When and where did many people starve to death?

1623, Greystoke, Cumbria

How many coffee houses were there in London by 1750?

Over 500 (led to rotting teeth and obesity)

Who built a canal to supply 30,000 houses with water in London? (Early Modern)

Hugh Middleton

Hazards of Early Modern water

Water unsafe to drink, so people drank small beer, river Thames was used for transport so got polluted.

Uncleanliness in Early Modern period

The poor might only have one set of clothes, people did not take showers or baths, but cleaned themselves with a brush.

Positives of Early Modern housing

Chimneys allowed heating in every room, cheap bricks

Hazards of Early Modern housing

Closely packed, damp and draughty, sometimes 7 storeys high

Hazards of Early Modern urban life

Animals herded through streets, horse drawn carts injured small children, loose animals spread disease, price of coal dropped which meant smoke contributed to respiratory diseases.

Positives of Early Modern waste

Scavengers collected rubbish, first flushing water closet

Hazards of Early Modern waste

10 toilets per 30 houses, flushing toilets not widely used, privies still used, cesspits emptied by scavengers and some poor people

Did people know the cause of The Plague?

No, but at the end of the period, scientists began to think that close contact with an infected person could be the cause of spreading.

What did the 1587 Plague Orders say? (Early Modern)

Contained 17 orders, such as collecting money to help the sick, burning the clothes of victims and record spread of disease.

What did the 1604 Plague Act do?

Increased financial help for sick families. There were harsher punishments for leaving isolation.

What did Cambridge do in response to The Plague

Only allowed strangers into the city if they had a certificate of health.

What did people think caused The Plague?

Miasma, God, Contagion

What did the Plague Orders say that caused criticism?

Infected houses should be completely shut up for six weeks, with all members of the family, sick or healthy still inside. This caused criticism.

Unhelpful responses to The Plague

People thought smoking tobacco stopped miasma, wealthy running away, not helping the ill

Positive Early Modern Public Health

• Local governments cleaned streets

• People told to leave waste for scavengers

• Fines for throwing waste into streets in York

• Encouraged to have cesspits emptied regularly

• Large houses built for the wealthy

• Streets paved and lit with lamps

• Water pumped into homes in London

Negative Early Modern Public Health

Conditions did not improve for poor areas, privies and cesspits were still used

1720s Gin Advertising

'drunk for a penny, dead drunk for two pence', led to increase in crime and deaths.

First Gin Act

1729, 5 shillings per gallon, annual £20 licence. Had little effect.

Second Gin Act

1736, Harsher, 20 shillings per gallon, annual £50 licence, hard to enforce.

Third Gin Act

1751, much tougher, anyone caught selling gin illegally was imprisoned and whipped for a second offence. This hugely reduced gin drinking.

Why were Industrial living conditions so bad?

(GULTH)

1. town Government was weak

2. lack of Understanding

3. no Laws to protect health and housing

4. Towns grew

5. not enough Houses

Unhealthy Industrial food

The income of most working-class families was too low to buy sufficient food. Poor families lived mainly on bread, butter, potatoes and tea. Many people were malnourished so prone to disease. Food was adulterated.

Examples of adulterated foods (Industrial)

Butchers sold meat from diseased animals; milk was mixed with water and chalk; copper was added to butter to improve the colour.

Healthy Industrial water

Middle class families filtered their drinking water.

Unhealthy Industrial water

All water supplies were dirty, water was frequently pumped from polluted rivers. In the summer months, typhoid was at its worst, and took many lives.

Availability of water to Industrial working-class

It was very rare for anyone to have water pumped to their home. It was common for a whole street to share a single water pump. Poor families who could not afford the water company's charges, obtained water from the town's river, the rain, or travelled to a distant spring.

Hazards of Industrial housing for workers

Cramped, squalid houses close to factories. Few had running water or were connected to sewers. Overcrowded, so Typhus spread quickly. Very poorest crowded in cellars.

Back-to-back houses

Double-row terraces, which made them very difficult to ventilate (chest infections e.g. TB). Very cramped.

Hazards of Industrial waste

Overflowing cesspools, sewage from midden privies collected underneath, more than 10 houses sharing a privy, pools of stinking water in streets

Problem with flushing closets

Their waste flowed directly into the rivers from which water companies obtained their water.

Killer diseases in Industrial period

Tuberculosis, typhoid and diphtheria

What percentage of children born in working-class districts of Manchester died before the age of 5?

57% (in 1842)

Average life expectancy in Manchester

26.6

Symptoms of Cholera

Violent vomiting, terrible diarrhoea, dehydration, weakened pulse, blue skin. Often death within two days.

When and where did Cholera first break out?

28 May 1832 in Leeds, where a 2 year old boy died in Blue Bell Fold

How many people did Cholera kill in Britain?

32,000

Effective response to Cholera (Central Board of Health)

1832, Central Board of Health set up. Two doctors sent to Russia to study progress of the disease.

Effective response to Cholera (Chadwick)

Chadwick's 1842 Sanitary Report found the connection between living conditions and cholera.

Effective response to Cholera (Snow)

1854 John Snow linked Cholera to infected water due to his Broad Street research.

Effective response to Cholera (Germ theory)

1861 Louis Pasteur's Germ Theory explained Snow's results, but this was not widely accepted until 1880s.

Effective response to Cholera (Sewers)

1858-65 Joseph Bazalgette's built 1300 miles of sewers under London, which transformed Public Health.

What did people think caused Cholera?

Miasma, God, Contact

Unhelpful responses to Cholera

Burning tar barrels, chloride of lime added to sewers, removal of rubbish, quarantine, national day of fasting and prayer.

1848 Public Health Act

Encouraged councils to clear up their towns, but did not force them. Had limited impact.

Who identified the Cholera germ, and when?

Filippo Pacini, 1854 (this was overlooked)

What happened in 1858?

The Great Stink: Scorching summer meant sewage smell of the Thames was unbearable.

Final Cholera Outbreak

1866, lower deaths due to sewers, although, 7000 died due to sewage polluting in East End.

What replaced Midden privies?

1867 Pail Privies were much better than Midden Privies because they had a bucket underneath, which was regularly emptied.

Which Prime Minister made public health the priority?

Disraeli, 1872: 'pure air, pure water and the inspection of unhealthy houses'.

1875 Public Health Act

Forced councils to clean towns and have medical officers.

Did people have better access to clean water by 1900?

Almost everyone had clean water pumped to their homes.

Helpful Modern access to food

Chains of groceries stores like Sainsbury's and Lipton's were reliable. Prices of food was falling. Refrigeration and canning made food cheaper.

How did WW2 make people live more healthily?

Food rationing was fairly distributed, so the diet of the poor improved. People did more exercise as fuel supplies were rationed.

What percentage of homes had a fridge in 1959?

13%

In what year did microwaves outsell gas cookers?

1975 (convenience food)

What cattle disease spread to humans?

BSE

1909 Housing Law

Banned any new back-to-back building; led to an improvement in privately owned housing.

1919 Housing Act

Made Councils supply poor with housing, used taxpayers' money for building programmes and set higher standards which all new houses had to meet.

1930 Housing Act

Slum clearances

How many tower blocks had been built by 1980?

4500

Hazards of Modern housing

Poorest families were still living in unhealthy houses in 1900, worst in back-to back houses. Slums still remained.

What percentage of private rented accomodation was unsuitable in 2000?

50%

1956 Clean Air Act

Made people burn smokeless fuel such as charcoal. Smoke-free zones were created.

How much coal did Britain use a year by 1950?

200 million tons

When was the Great Smog?

4-12 December 1952

How many people did the Great Smog kill?

12,000

What has led people to become less active?

Labour-saving devices (cars, telephones, computers). New technology such as televisions; watching rather than playing sport. Robots in factories.

What percentage of men and women are overweight?

44% men, 33% women

How many died due to Spanish flu in Britain 1918-19?

228,000

What were the symptoms of Spanish flu?

Starts as common cold, but develops into a vicious attack of pneumonia. Skin turns blue and noses, ears or stomach may bleed.

How did Dr Niven respond to Flu in Manchester 1919?

He kept detailed records of each case, he arranged grave diggers, he used language like 'spit kills', he published advice. He urged councils to close schools.

Unhelpful responses to Spanish Flu

Businessmen did not want a lockdown, because they would lose money, and churches put religion above health.