Public Health 1750-1900

Question 1

What were the conditions like in nineteenth century towns?

Answer 1

Rubbish and human waste was piped in to the street
Stray animals wandered freely, carrying disease
Water was contaminated
Disease spread rapidly

Question 2

What was the disease caused by dirty water?

Answer 2

Cholera

Question 3

When was the cholera epidemic?

Answer 3

1831-32

Question 4

How did England react to the cholera epidemic?

Answer 4

They began to examine the victims living conditions?

Question 5

What was set up as a result of cholera?

Answer 5

Boards of Health to prevent disease spreading

Edwin Chadwick carried out a nation wide survey of the poor and their health

Question 6

At the time what did people think caused cholera?

Answer 6

Miasma and punishment from God

Question 7

What did John Snow do?

Answer 7

He believed that cholera was not caused by bad air but it was caused by contaminated water. In 1854 he mapped out where cholera victims lived and saw they were clustered around a water pump in Soho. He persuaded the council to remove the pump and when they did, death rates dropped dramatically. He was the first to make a link between disease and dirty water

Question 8

Why did many people not accept John Snow’s ideas?

Answer 8

Louis Pasteur had not yet discovered germs so he couldn’t explain his theory

Question 9

What is spontaneous generation?

Answer 9

That disease produces germs

Question 10

What did Edwin Chadwick do?

Answer 10

in 1842 he published his ‘Report on the Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Population’ and proved that poor people lived in overcrowded and unhygienic conditions

Question 11

What did Edwin Chadwick say that poverty lead to?

Answer 11

Illness and low life expectancy
Absence from work
People in work had to pay higher taxes to support the poor

Question 12

What did Chadwick suggest as a solution?

Answer 12

The government should provide public health facilities like clean water, drains, sewers, clean streets and to appoint medical officers
Ratepayers should support public health because it would be better in the long run

Question 13

Why did people oppose to Edwin Chadwick?

Answer 13

Rich taxpayers objected to paying for facilities they would not use, local councils resented orders from the government
Some people had a laissez-faire attitude (the government shouldn’t be involved)

Question 14

When was the first public health act passed?

Answer 14

1848

Question 15

What were some effects on the Public Health act?

Answer 15

National Board of Health was set up
Gave local councils the power to improve their water supplies
Councils could appoint medical officers of health

Question 16

Why was the 1848 Public Health Act bad?

Answer 16

It was not compulsory

Question 17

What stimulated the 1848 Public Health Act?

Answer 17

An outbreak of cholera which put pressure on the government to do something

Question 18

When was the Great Stink?

Answer 18

1858

Question 19

What happened during the great stink?

Answer 19

In London the level of the river thames dropped dramatically and the smell from the river became known as the great stink (and it was right next to the houses of Parliament)

Question 20

Who was Joseph Bazalgette?

Answer 20

The engineer who designed and supervised a new sewer system after the great stink

Question 21

When was the Second Reform Act?

Answer 21

1867

Question 22

What did the Second Reform Act say?

Answer 22

Working class men given the right to vote

Question 23

Main factors in public health reform?

Answer 23

Government, individuals, technology

Question 24

What lead to the 1975 public health act?

Answer 24

Louis Pasteur proved the link between germs and disease so people were more willing to pay taxes
Working class men could vote in 1867
Weakening of Laissez Faire
New cholera outbreak in 1865

Question 25

What social welfare reforms were introduced by the liberal government?

Answer 25

Free school meals 1906
Old Age Pension 1908
Workmens compensation 1906
National Insurance 1911

Question 26

What did the liberal party argue?

Answer 26

That a healthier workforce was needed for Britain

Question 27

What was some limitations of the Liberals’ social reforms?

Answer 27

Free school meals were not compulsory so not all councils provided them
Old age pensions were only for those who worked
Medical care under the national insurance act was only for the worker and not for his family