Individuals

Edwin Chadwick
Worked for Poor Law Commission in 1830s and 40s worked for National Board of Health Was hard working but also arrogant and rude failed to get people on side Created Report on the Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Population 1842 & showed that: poor lived in dirty, overcrowded conditions causing illness; people were too sick to work and became poorer; people should pay to support the poor in taxes Argued money could be saved in long run by: improving sewers; cleaning streets and houses; providing clean water; appointing medical officers

William Farr
1837 new law meant all births, marriages and deaths had to be registered William Farr used this to work out where people were dying the youngest and most proved link between unhealthy living conditions and high death rate Farrs evidence forced some councils to make changes and added pressure for reform

John Snow
Snow was a surgeon and interested in using evidence to improve PH 1849 published a book saying that Cholera was spread by water not miasma mocked. 1854 during Cholera outbreak Snow set out to prove theory. Mapped deaths around Broad Street and published On the Mode of Communication of Cholera Snows evidence led to pump handle being removed and the deaths stopped. Later found that a cesspool was the culprit. Snow proved water spread Cholera but some still clung to miasma idea.

Octavia Hill
Hill taught poor children from age of 14 in 1865 she bought 3 slums and turned them into clean living spaces Over her life she improved 2000 homes and influenced local councils to do the same. She lobbied for new laws to force all councils to improve housing and eventually got influence in the 1875 Artisans Dwellings Act which allowed councils to knock down slums on health grounds

Pasteur
1861 Germ Theory published which convinced scientists by 1864 proved that Chadwick, Snow and Farr had been right

Joseph Bazalgette
Was appointed to build the London sewer system after 1848 had trained in railway engineering. His system is still in use today: 83 miles of sewers from brick, 1100 miles of minor sewers, major pumping stations. Most of the project done by 1865 but not fully done until 1875 was forward thinking enough to build in future capacity

Government
Public Health Act 1848
Set up National Board of Health Government could force local councils to make improvements and have a local Medical Officer Local councils could collect taxes to improve public health as long as tax payers agreed Not compulsory however change was encouraged but not forced Only 103 towns set up a local Board of Health and the National Board was abandoned in 1854

Changing Attitudes
Voters up to 1867 were mainly rich or aristocratic men. However 1867 saw working men in towns given the right to vote. Voters doubled This increased again in 1884 government now had to think of the conditions of the majority of men in the country

Public Health Act 1875

Local Councils were made to provide water, toilets, drains and sewers Council had to employ a Medical Officer and health inspectors Other legislation was passed to: improve housing; shorten working hours (10 hour day); make it illegal to add stuff to food which made it dangerous; made education compulsory The Forster Elementary Education Act 1870 required partially state-funded board schools to be set up to provide primary (elementary) education in areas where existing provision was inadequate. The Elementary Education Act 1880 insisted on compulsory attendance from 510 years. The Free Education Act 1891 provided for the state payment of school fees up to ten shillings per week.

Taxation
1853 tax was taken off soap so more could afford it

Science & Technology

Experiments
Snows scientific investigation of Cholera spread led him to make the link between Cholera and water and disprove miasma. Pasteurs scientific proof of germ theory meant people were more willing to pay to improve public health through water supplies etc.

Technology
New technology from the Ind. Rev. allowed government to meet the challenge of PH improvement. Open sewers replaced by piped sewers; water pipes also required steam power for excavation; toilets which flushed introduced for the rich; soap production thanks to factories

Chance
Cholera
Tax payers did not want to pay higher taxes the government also didnt want to annoy local councils 1847 Cholera arrived in a huge epidemic government implemented Chadwicks reforms in the hope it would help Outbreak of Cholera in 1854 gave Snow the chance to prove his theory. He was also lucky that he had a pump nearby which he could investigate

Great Stink
A very hot summer in 1858 led the Thames to smell. This affected the Houses of Parliament and forced politicians to notice the state of Londons water and public health. As a result a new sewer system was built for London