Public Health Improvements Over Time

Public Health Neglect and Initial Investigations

• Local and central governments initially showed little interest in public health.
• Severe cholera outbreaks in 1832 and 1849 prompted government investigations into living conditions in rapidly growing industrial towns.

Welsh Example: Merthyr Tydfil

• In 1845, Sir Henry de la Beche investigated public health in Merthyr Tydfil.
• He found unhygienic, disease-ridden, and unsanitary conditions.
• Limited action, but further investigations like the Rammell Report in 1850 were conducted.

Edwin Chadwick's Report

• In 1839, Chadwick led a Royal Commission into living conditions.
• His 1842 report on sanitary conditions shocked the public, but immediate government action was lacking.

Public Health Act of 1848

• Established a Board of Health with three commissioners.
• Aimed to set up local health boards in areas with high death rates.
• By 1854, 182 towns had established local health boards.
• The cholera epidemic of 1848–49 increased interest in public health reform.
• The Act did not mandate local authorities to take action.

Further Public Health Improvements

• 1859: Joseph Bazalgette began constructing London’s new sewage system, diverting sewage downstream.
• Sanitary Act 1866: Mandated local authorities to build sewers.
• Public Health Act of 1875: Made it compulsory for local councils to lay sewers.
• Artisans’ Dwellings Act of 1875: Empowered councils to clear slums.

Welsh Example: Wrexham

• 1857: Wrexham gained a town council to improve health.
• 1864: Wrexham Waterworks Company founded to provide piped water and sewers.
• By 1894, all houses had flushing lavatories.
• 1876: The first cemetery in Wrexham opened.
• 1901: The Council opened public baths on Tuttle Street.

Welsh Examples: Mid-Wales Reservoirs

• Liverpool acquired land in the Vyrnwy Valley; dam construction began in 1881 and opened in 1889.
• Birmingham bought land in the Elan Valley in the 1890s; the Elan Reservoir opened in 1904, with four more dams by 1952.

Welsh Example: Cardiff

• Improving public health in Cardiff (further details in Key Question 7).

Medieval Public Health

• Mortality rates were higher in towns due to crowding and proximity to animals and filth.

Improvements in Medieval Public Health

• Monasteries like Tintern Abbey followed strict cleanliness rules.
• Towns built public latrines, often on bridges; London had over a dozen by the 15th century.
• London produced about 50 tons of excrement daily; muck-rakers were hired for street cleaning and gong farmers cleared cesspits.
• Towns had bath houses; Southwark in London had 18 hot baths. Smaller towns had bathhouses, often connected to bakeries.
• Quarantine laws were introduced to combat plague; houses of infected people were boarded up, and lepers were confined to lazar houses.
• Crusaders brought soap from the Middle East to Europe.

Welsh Example: Kenfig

• Kenfig had public health ordinances from 1330.
• Butchers couldn't slaughter animals or dump offal in the street.
• Throwing rubbish or filth in the town, or within fifty feet of the walls, was illegal.
• Residents had to keep pavements clean.

16th Century Public Health Attempts

• Henry VII prohibited slaughterhouses within cities or towns.
• Henry VIII empowered towns to impose taxes for sewer construction.
• London had plague outbreaks in 1563, 1575, 1584, 1589, 1603, 1636, 1647, and the largest in 1665.
• After the Great Fire of London in 1666, an Act of Parliament mandated wider streets and stone/slate buildings to limit fire destruction.

20th Century Housing Improvements

• 1918: David Lloyd George promised to clear slums and build ‘homes fit for heroes’.
• Housing Act of 1919: Provided grants to local councils for building homes.
• 1920s: Mass demolition of back-to-back housing began.
• Beveridge Report of 1942: Identified ‘squalor’ as a ‘Five Evil Giants’.
• Post-WW2: Grants were given to build new homes and charge low rents; 1.25 million homes were built by 1951.
• 1960s: Inner-city slums were replaced by high-rise blocks of flats.

Welsh Examples (Housing)

• New towns: Cwmbran in the 1950s and Newtown in the 1960s
• New housing estates: Queen’s Park in Wrexham
• High-rise blocks: Butetown in Cardiff
• 1968 Welsh House Condition Survey: 92,000 homes were unfit for human habitation which led to better quality housing.

Air Pollution

• Air quality in towns was heavily polluted; London experienced frequent smog.
• December 1952: The ‘Great Smog’ caused 4,000 deaths from respiratory illness.
• Clean Air Act of 1956: Encouraged cleaner fuels and relocating power stations.
• Increased car ownership led to new pollution from exhaust fumes.
• 2003: London introduced a congestion charge.
• 2018: The United Nations warned of dangerous air pollution levels in the UK.

21st Century Health Campaigns

• Governments focus on prevention to save on curing preventable diseases.
• ‘Walking for health’ encourages exercise.
• ‘Be Active’ is Birmingham City Council’s scheme for free leisure services.
• ‘Five A Day’ and the Eatwell Guide promote balanced diets with fruits and vegetables to reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer.