Chadwick Flashcards
What was Edwin Chadwick worried about?
The rising cost of poor relief
What was Chadwick the secretary of?
The Poor Law Commission. This looked after those people who were too weak to work as well as orphans and widows.
What year was Chadwick’s bestselling book, Report on the Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Population of Great Britain, published?
1842
What did Chadwick’s book contain?
A collection of reports on town conditions. He also spoke to doctors involved with the poor law from all over the country.
What link did The Report clearly establish?
It established the link between: Overcrowded Housing Poor sanitation Polluted water Disease
What did The Report show?
The squalor in which many working people lived. This horrified the wealthy classes.
What did the report favour, something that was not liked at the time?
Government intervention-opposite to Laissez-faire.
What did Chadwick believe about rate payers?
He believed it would be cheaper for rate payers if the streets were cleaner and then there would be less disease and so people would stay in work. This would mean less need for poor relief.
What two main factors put pressure on the Gov. to take action in terms of public health?
The Report
Further outbreaks of Cholera.
What happened in 1844?
A Royal Commission delivered it’s report on the findings of conditions of towns.
What was set up PARTLY as a result of the Commissions findings?
A Health of Towns Association
What did the Health of Towns Association do?
Set up local branches that provided evidence of:
filthy streets
lack of sewage facilities
Inadequate supplies of drinking water
What act was introduced into parliament in 1847?
The Public Health Bill.
Resisted by the ‘Dirty Party’. It felt that it could cost to much to put Chadwick’s suggestions into practice.
When was the first Public Health Act passed?
1848.
This happened after Cholera struck again.
What was the first public health act seen as?
The first real attempt by government to tackle the problem of public health towns.
