Breadth 1: The Impetus for Public Health Reforms Flashcards
Define the term ‘pauper’.
A person who earns less than is considered enough to live on by society, and who is accordingly dependent on relief from the state.
What was outdoor relief?
Relief available outside of a workhouse, accessible in the home.
What was indoor relief?
Relief that you could only access within a workhouse.
How was the type of relief you were to receive determined?
It depended on your personal circumstances and the judgements of the individual parish commissioners.
Why was it the parish that administered relief?
16th century Acts of Parliament outlined the parish as the outlet for secular administration.
1601 Poor Law establishes that relief is to be accessible via parish.
Why was pauperism an inevitability within industrialising British society?
Disease was prevalent amidst the filthy conditions of industrial Britain, and a family could be thrown into long-term pauperism if the family breadwinner died. Short-term disease caused short-term pauperism.
Cyclical unemployment could be a cause for short-term pauperism too.
What was the connection between poverty and public health?
Amidst the prevailing laissez-faire attitudes of industrialising Britain, if you were poor, it was probable that you would be unable to access public health facilities as they were unaffordable to most and vested interests got in the way of the bourgeoisie funding their provision to those that couldn’t pay.
Give examples of diisease affecting the wealthy.
ROYAL FAMILY - Prince Albert died from typhoid on 14th December 1861 at the age of 42. In 1878, both Princess Alice (age 32) and Princess Marie (age 4) die from diphtheria.
WOOLF FAMILY - A family of wealthy Ashkenazi Jews on Shoe Lane. Maria died whilst 8 months pregnant, from cholera, in June 1849. George, an accountant, died from TB in 1851.
On what scale did the population grow under the Industrial Revolution?
1781: 13 million 1871: 31 million 1936: 48 million
Rural to urban: 1801 - 33% 1851 .- 50% 1892 - 72% 1900 - 80%
Why did death rates fall?
Access to cheaper and more widely available cotton, soap, crops and medical supplies, like vaccination.
Why did marriage rates increase?
No need for 7-year apprenticeship before going into an industrial role.
Less need for live-in servants amongst farmers.
More adults to marry.
Denser populations: greater mingling.
Why did birth rates increase?
More adults alive to have kids.
Vicious cycle.
Earlier marriage and next to no contraception.
How do we know?
Census records from 1841 and the work of the Office of the Registrar General from 1st July 1837.
Why was William Farr significant within his role as Chief Statistician of the Office of the Registrar General?
He upheld the role from 1837-79. He ensured that the cause of death be recorded as well as the fact that it occurred. Was able to outline an actively populating urban population but also localised trends, e.g. the fact that 57% of Mancunian kids died before they were 5.
Why was the Office of the Registrar General needed?
Parish administration was inadequate due to increased non-conformity and increased mobilisation.
