early modern britain - people's health (1500-1750)

state population of London, 1550

120,000

state population of London, 1650

375,000

state the parish where poor people were first to die in the second wave of the plague (1665)

St Giles

September 1665

• 1000 died

• from the plague epidemic

• a day

state the number of people that died in the Great Plague of 1665

70,000-100,000

describe the diet of the rich

• VARIED

• meat - beef, veal, mutton, fish

• bread

• salad leaves, vegetables, fruits

• coffee (VAST INCREASE IN COFFEE SHOPS), hot chocolate

• sugar

• spices

• ale, mead, wine, beer

describe continuity in diet from the Medieval period

poor diet remains unvaried and unbalanced

describe change in diet from the Medieval period

• richer classes see an integration of exotic exports

• such as spices and coffee

describe how animals affected the urban environment, 1500-1750

• Cattles, sheep and geese were herded through the streets to be sold or slaughtered

• Horse-drawn carts were pulled through the cramped streets

• Stray dogs living in the streets defecated

• Stray cats were common, but they caught mice and rats

describe how animals affected people’s health, 1500-1750

• Horse-drawn carts could trample or injure people due to the close proximity between the people and horses

• Dog defecation often contained parasites, which could be spread to humans

describe how streets affected the urban environment, 1500-1750

• Often covered with animal dung

• Usually unpaved

• Contained a mixture of animals and humans

describe how smoke affected the urban environment, 1500-1750

• 1500-1750 - people heated their homes and did cooking on open fires

• 16th century - coal was unpopular due to its foul smell once combusted

• 17th century - price of coal dropped and it was increasingly used in ovens, forges and furnaces

describe how houses affected the urban environment, 1500-1750

• 16th century - inhabitants of many towns continued to live in medieval oak-framed houses

• 17th century - oak-framed houses were gradually replaced by stone/brick houses

• Houses in towns were often just one room wide and three storeys tall

  • Some contained overhanging 'jetties' to provide extra room

  • Poor families often squashed into cellars and upper storeys

  • Sharing beds was common

• Houses continued to be draughty and damp

describe how streets affected people’s health, 1500-1750

• Animal dung could contain harmful pathogens which could be spread to humans

• The streets being unpaved meant mud and excrement from the ground often ended up on people's clothes and shoes, subsequently ending up in their homes

describe how smoke affected people’s health, 1500-1750

• Smoke released by open fires could cause respiratory diseases due to decreases ventilation

• Complete combustion of coal released carbon dioxide and incomplete combustion released carbon monoxide

  • Carbon dioxide increased risks of respiratory diseases

  • Carbon monoxide is poisonous and could suffocate people

describe how houses affected people’s health, 1500-1750

• Mould causes by the damp conditions in houses could cause severe respiratory diseases

• The close proximity of families meant contagious diseases could spread quickly

state 5 reasons why the rich might have been ‘cleaner’ than the poor, 1500-1750

1. Bathing inside was only possible if you had a bathtub, servants, a reliable water supply and enough firewood

2. The soap used by the poor to wash clothes (made of leftover animal fat) was not suitable for use on skin - only the rich could afford soap made of olive oil

3. Water in rivers or streams would often be dirty and many people believed that water could infect them through the pores in their skin

4. Many poor people were too busy working to have time to take a bath

5. There was a lack of reliable water sources across many towns

state 4 ways to access water in an early-modern town, 1500-1750

• paying for water to be piped to your house

• collecting water from a conduit

• buying water from a water-seller

• having a personal well

state what a ‘scavenger/raker’ is

People who collected household waste to market gardeners outside the towns

state what a water closet was

It was the medieval name for the first flushing toilet

state what a privy/jake was

Privies were holes built over rivers to dispose of excrement

state what a cesspit was

cesspits were holes in the ground

state what a dunghill was

These were dumps where peopled emptied the waste from their cesspits

explain Hugh Middleton’s significance

• 1609 - Hugh Middleton built a 'New River', which brought spring water 38 miles from the countryside outside London to a reservoir in Islington

  • This supplied 30,000 houses in Islington

explain Sir John Harrington’s significance

1596 - Sir John Harrington, Elizabeth I's godson, invented the first flushing water closet

explain Samuel Pepys’ significance

• Pepys is an example of the problems cesspits caused for neighbours

• he is said to have stepped into a 'great heap of turds'

• which had leaked into his cellar from his neighbour's cesspit

state Britain’s average life expectancy in 1665

41 years old

what time of year did plague hit in Britain and when was it more likely to spread

• mostly began in spring and summer with the warmer weather

• it was more likely to spread in the poorest neighbourhoods or towns

state the morality rate of the 1665 plague

1/3 of the population

describe continuity in belief from the medieval period about the causes of plague

• people continued to believe the plague was God punishing them for their sins

• people continued to believe miasma was a cause of plague, created by God

describe change in belief from the medieval period about the causes of plague

people began to write about the importance of contagion as a spreader of plague at the end of the 17th century

what happened to the plague after 1667

it never returned to England

what did Henry VIII’s 1518 proclamation announce

• introduced initially in London - expectation was that they would be adopted elsewhere - London is a model for public health

• stated that houses identified to be infected with the plague should be marked

• stated if an infected person left the house, they would have to carry a white stick to let others know to avoid them

  • harder to enforce, lack of desire by national government to enforce these regulations

how did towns respond to plague after the 1518 proclamation

• all towns and aldermen were expected to take action when plague struck

• aldermen shut up houses that contained people

• some corporations began to isolate plague victims in ‘pest houses’ outside the town walls

what did aldermen of York introduce in the 1550s

• they posted ‘watchmen’ on the Ouse Bridge to stop the movement of infected people across York

• they appointed ‘searchers’ to bury the dead and clean infected houses

• they collected money from each parish to provide food for people in infected houses

state 4 examples of instructions from the 1578 Plague Orders published by Elizabeth I’s Privy Council

• aldermen should collect money to support the sick in their town

• infected houses in towns should be completely shut for up to 6 weeks with all the members of the family still inside

• streets and alleys should be thoroughly cleaned

• clothes and bedding of plague victims should be burned

explain the significance of Elizabeth I’s 1578 Plague Orders

• POSITIVE

  • demonstrated growing medical awareness of the causes of disease and disease spread

  • saw greater measures to implement and regulate plague isolation

• NEGATIVE

  • these national-mandated regulations saw variation in local enforcement as it relied on local government

state what provisions the 1604 Plague Act made for those who were sick

• allowed towns to collect money first from parishes within a 5 mile radius (and nationally if necessary)

• introduced harsh punishments for anyone breaking the policy of isolation

state what punishments the 1604 Plague Act held for those who did not comply

• a plague victim found outside, mingling with others; could be hanged

• a healthy person who knowingly met with an infected person or left an infected house could be whipped

state the time period that demonstrated a shift from local plague measures to national enforcement and compulsion

1518 → 1578 → 1604

describe how Cambridge reacted to the arrival of the plague in 1665

• they only allowed strangers into the town if they had a certificate of health

• streets were cleaned

• stray dogs and cats were killed

• ‘searchers’ were hired

state how many people died of the plague in Cambridge by December 1666

920

describe change in responses to the plague from the Middle Ages

• Protestants did not believe in pilgrimage or flagellants to address the plague

• after the Middle Ages, more action was taken to prevent plague by local authorities

describe continuity in responses to the plague from the Middle Ages

• richer people continued to flee from towns affected by plague

  • this was not possible for poorer people

• continuity in blaming outsiders/foreigners for the plague

• continuity in belief plague was caused by miasma

  • led to a continuity in belief that potions/herbs and spices which smelt nice could repel the plague

state 5 steps that were introduced by the Aldermen of York to improve public health

1. pigs had to be kept in a sty and were not allowed to wander around the streets

2. household waste could not be put out for the scavengers until 7pm

3. anyone who made a dunghill in their yard had to pay a fine

4. people were fined for throwing urine and excrement into the street at night

5. people were not allowed to build their privies over the Queen’s Dike, a stream which ran through the ity

state 5 steps that were introduced in London to improve public health

1. a reservoir was built by Hugh Middleton in 1609 to bring water into London

2. tree trunks of elms were bored to make water pipes to bring clean water into London

3. by 1750 - several water companies in London and other towns piped water into the homes of those who could afford the annual subscription

4. more streets were being paved with stone and lines of posts marked off footways for pedestrians

5. oil-burning streets lamps first appeared in London in the 1680s

   1. by 1750 - most towns had lighting in their main streets

state what nickname gin was given

demon drink

describe how town councils tried to control alehouses

they tried to make it illegal to sell alcohol without a license

state what a ‘dram shop’ was

shops selling cheap spirits such as brandy or gin

state where gin was first imported from

Holland

describe what parliament did in 1689 to encourage distilling in England

they banned the import of gin

what was the impact of parliament’s 1689 decision

thousands of small gin shops opened in secret in cellars, back rooms, attics and sheds

1729 Gin Act

• gin distillers had to pay a tax of 5 shillings

• on each gallon of gin they produced

• and gin sellers had to buy an annual license costing £20

1736 Gin Act

• licenses for gin sellers increased in price to £50

• tax on gin distillers increased to 20 shillings

1743 Gin Act

• restricted the sale of gin to alehouses

• which already sold ale, beer and wine

1751 Gin Act

• criminalised anyone caught selling gin

• with the punishment being imprisonment and whipping for a second offence

• a third offence would result in forced transportation (exile)

state how many gallons of gin a year was drunk in London by 1750

11 million gallons