Terrible towns

What made towns and cities stink?

In 1850, Charles Reade the writer wrote about Sheffield, in the north of England. He described it as ‘perhaps the most hideous town in creation’. He reported that black smoke blocked out the sun and ‘sparkling streams entered the town, but soon got filthy, full of rubbish, clogged with dirt and bubbling with rotten, foul-smelling gasses’.

A changing nation

In the 18th century, towns like Sheffield became overcrowded and unpleasant due to rapid industrialisation. Factories attracted workers from the countryside, leading to the quick, cheap construction of cramped, poorly planned housing. Many homes lacked foundations or quality control, and in 1842, an entire row of newly built houses collapsed during a storm.

Overcrowding

Almost all factory workers’ houses in the largest British towns were crowded. Normally 5 or more people lived in one small room. The rooms were rented from local landlords or factory owners. In 1847, 40 people were found sharing one room in Liverpool.

Why were the towns and cities so filthy

In the 18th century, sewage disposal was a significant issue. Houses lacked indoor toilets, and families often used buckets, which were emptied into the streets or stored for sale as manure. Shared street toilets served dozens of families. Water was drawn from pumps or polluted rivers, and there were no rubbish collections, litter bins, street cleaners, or proper sewers.

Death in the streets

In the 18th century, sewage flowed into streets and rivers, which people used for drinking and washing, leading to widespread disease. With little understanding of germs, most continued using contaminated water. By 1840, one in three children died before age five, and the average life expectancy was 30, though much lower in industrial towns. In Leeds, a working-class man’s average age of death was just 19, and in Manchester, it was 17.

Typhoid

It killed up to 40% of people who got the disease. And it can attack anyone.

TB (Tuberculosis)

Can affect anyone. Infected 1 in 10 people in the 1800s. About 25% of all deaths in London were caused by it. If contacted there was a 70% chance of death.

Cholera

Can attack anyone. It killed 90% of infected individuals. Epidemics in Britain caused the following deaths:

• 32,000 in 1831

• 62,000 in 1848

• 20,000 in 1854

• 14,000 in 1866

Typical city street

• drinking in pubs was a favorite pastime

• Water carries sold water in the streets

• People used the river to wash their clothes and collect drinking water

• A water pump, which often pulled up water from the river

• Dung hill- a large mound of faeces from sewage

• Families lived in one room

• Sewage collectors taking away sewage to sell

• Rats, a common sight

• A shared street toilet

• Crime was common

• Costermongers hired carts, bought food from local markets and wandered the streets selling door-to-door.

• The houses were in poor condition

• A factory

• Cholera was the new killer disease

Public health

A phrase used to describe the general health and wellbeing of-being of ordinary people.

Stinking cities

Towns grew very quickly in the 1800s. New housing was built quickly and cheaply and nearly all homes lacked basics such as toilets and running water, they were no street cleaners, and no sewers to take away the waste. So rubbish and sewage piled up in the streets and floated in the rivers

Deadly disease

In these filthy, overcrowded conditions, disease and sickness spread fast. By far the most feared illness was cholera, a killer disease with no known cure. Cholera arrived in Britain in 1831. In some places where there were severe outbreaks, cemeteries became so full they had to close.

What did the government do

• Building sewer systems

• Implementing public health laws

• Small pox vaccination prevented deaths

• Better training of medical professionals

• Groups were set out to investigate the cholera outbreaks

Government being slow

• lack of scientific understanding

• Other economic priorities

• Political resistance

• Did not know the cause of cholera

• Most politicians felt it was not their job to tell people how to live their lives or build better houses or factories

Chadwick conclusions

• deaths happen where there is polluted water

• Disease is caused by bad air

• Bad air is caused by rotting dead animals and vegetables, filthy houses and dirty streets

• Medical officers should be appointed in towns to take charge of clearing up

• Sewers and drains must be improved so rubbish and filth are taken away from the cities rather than left to rot.

The impact of Chadwicks report

The report, published in 1842, shocked people. Finally, in 1848 the government passed a new law - the Public Health Act - allowing councils to spend money on cleaning up if they wanted to. Some cities, like Liverpool, made huge improvements, but others didn’t bother to do anything… so the filth continued.

Cholera comes back

Despite clean-up efforts in some places, outbreaks of cholera and other diseases kept happening. During the 1854 outbreak a doctor called john snow decided to work out - once and for all - just what was causing cholera.

Miasma theory

This theory suggests that diseases were caused by bad air of miasmas

Contagion theory

This theory suggests that diseases spread through direct contact with infected individuals or contaminated objects

Divided Society

Social class is defined as divisions in society based on income, housing, family, tradition and social life

Upper class

• they were about 100,000 people in the upper class

• It was divided into 2 the very rich and the upper class

• They lived in the country side on large family estates

Education opportunities of the upper class

• 0-5 yrs- educated by a nurse

• 5-12 yrs- educated by a tutor at home

• 12-18 yrs- went to expensive private schools

• 18-21 yrs- went to university

  In terms of career choice, they became a socialite, army officer, church worker or politician

Middle class

• divided into 2 the upper middle and lower middle class

• They were about 2 million people

• The upper middle class (mine owners or factory workers)