Working-class diet and health in Nottingham, 1850-1939
The rise in population together with industrialisation in the first half of the nineteenth century presented central government and local authorities with new challenges. Large numbers of people crowded together in poorly constructed homes with very limited sanitation facilities and created the perfect breeding ground for infectious diseases. The endemic nature of many of these diseases affected the most vulnerable members of society and the reduction in the high death-rates was an important consideration for the authorities. The Public Health Act 1848 was the first serious attempt by Westminster to tackle the problems of urban health which had been identified in several reports published in the 1840s. During the second half of the century public health policy was hesitantly developed and concentrated on cleaning up the environment in the expectation of bringing about a reduction in deaths. At the same time, rising living standards and improved food supplies to the towns brought about slight improvements in the dietary levels of the urban poor. A combination of factors brought about a rapid decline in death-rates by the end of the nineteenth century, and a further fall mainly attributable to changes in the
Amos, Denise M.
RA 421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine ; DA Great Britain
Working-class diet and health in Nottingham, 1850-1939. The rise in population together with industrialisation in the first half of the nineteenth century presented central government and local authorities with new challenges. Large numbers of people crowded together in poorly constructed homes with very limited sanitation facilities and created the perfect breeding ground for infectious diseases. The endemic nature of many of these diseases affected the most vulnerable members of society and the reduction in the high death-rates was an important consideration for the authorities. The Public Health Act 1848 was the first serious attempt by Westminster to tackle the problems of urban health which had been identified in several reports published in the 1840s. During the second half of the century public health policy was hesitantly developed and concentrated on cleaning up the environment in the expectation of bringing about a reduction in deaths. At the same time, rising living standards and improved food supplies to the towns brought about slight improvements in the dietary levels of the urban poor. A combination of factors brought about a rapid decline in death-rates by the end of the nineteenth century, and a further fall mainly attributable to changes in the
working_class diet_health nottingham rise population together industrialisation present central_government local_authority new challenge large_number people crowd together poorly construct home limited sanitation facility create perfect breeding ground infectious_disease endemic nature many disease affect vulnerable member_society reduction high death important consideration authority public_health act first serious_attempt westminster tackle_problem urban health identify_several report_publish public_health policy develop concentrated cleaning environment expectation bring reduction death time rise living standard improve food_supply towns bring slight improvement dietary level urban poor combination_factor bring rapid decline death end fall mainly attributable change