Public Health in Britain 1750–1900

‘Public Health’ is the notion that all the people in a country should be fit and healthy. Such a notion can only be realised if all people live and work in a clean environment, have a balanced diet and a high standard of medical care. In the early nineteenth century none of these preconditions applied to the population of Britain with the exception of the upper classes. The main reason for this was that the industrial take-off brought the rapid growth of towns. Such was the growth of the urban population that proper drainage, sanitation and water-supply were ignored and the housing accommodation was ‘jerry-built’. Disease was rife and death rates were alarmingly high.